NORTHERN IRELAND

Decommissioning

David Taylor: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland what recent progress has been made in decommissioning terrorist weapons.

Jane Kennedy: Currently no organisation is in contact with the IICD. I have reiterated on many occasions, and the position remains the same, it is imperative that both republican and loyalist paramilitary organisations complete the transition to exclusively peaceful means, real, total and permanent.

Decommissioning

Bob Spink: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland if he will make a statement on decommissioning.

Jane Kennedy: I refer the hon. Member to the answer I gave today to my hon. Friend the Member for North-West Leicestershire (David Taylor).

RUC Garden of Remembrance

Angela Watkinson: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland whether representatives from every bereaved family have been invited to the official opening ceremony of the RUC Garden of Remembrance.

Jane Kennedy: No date has been set yet for the official opening of the Garden of Remembrance. The Trustees of the RUC GC Foundation have advised me that they intend to issue invitations to all the families of murdered officers to the opening ceremony and to special events following the official opening.

Devolution

Ann McKechin: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland what recent talks he has had with the political parties in Northern Ireland on the future of political institutions.

Paul Murphy: I refer my hon. Friend to the answer I gave earlier to my hon. Friend the Member for Glasgow, Anniesland (John Robertson).

Devolution

Colin Burgon: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland what recent discussions he has had on the prospects for re-establishing the Northern Ireland Assembly.

Paul Murphy: I refer my hon. Friend to the answer I gave earlier to my hon. Friend the Member for Glasgow, Anniesland (John Robertson).

Devolution

Mike Gapes: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland what recent talks he has had with Northern Ireland party leaders on the future of devolution in Northern Ireland.

Paul Murphy: I refer my hon. Friend to the answer I gave earlier to my hon. Friend the Member for Glasgow, Anniesland (John Robertson).

Coleraine Fire Station

Gregory Campbell: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland on what dates in the past six months fire pumping appliances at Coleraine Fire Station have been found to be mechanically unsound and unsuitable for use in attending fire calls.

Des Browne: Over the past six months, the two fire appliances stationed at Coleraine Fire Station have been 'off run' due to mechanical defects on a total of five occasions. The longest of these was 37 days and a replacement vehicle was available for the period.

Coleraine Fire Station

Gregory Campbell: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland whether there has been a change in policy on response levels for the Fire Brigade; and whether response times were met at Coleraine Fire Station on (a) 4 March and (b) 7 March.

Des Browne: The Northern Ireland Fire Brigade applies nationally defined standards of fire cover, categorised as A, B, C & D, where A is the highest risk.
	On 4 March 2003 fire appliances from Coleraine Fire Station were required to attend one Category C incident, which required an appliance to be at the scene within 8–10 minutes. On this occasion the response time was not met and the appliance arrived 13 minutes from the time of alert.
	On the 7 March 2003 there were a total of four incidents, all Category C requiring attendance by appliances from Coleraine Fire Station. On each occasion the first appliance arrived within 8 minutes from the time of the alert.

Coleraine Fire Station

Gregory Campbell: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland what mechanical work has been undertaken to the fire pumping appliances located at Coleraine Fire Station in the six months to 7 March 2003.

Des Browne: Over the past six months to 7 March 2003, the following repairs were required to the two appliances stationed at Coleraine:
	
		Vehicle: PDZ 4239
		
			 Date Repair 
		
		
			 10 September 2002 Repairs to relay 
			 23 September 2002 Air leak 
			 18 October 2002 Air leak 
			 18 November 2002 Brakes defective 
			 19 November 2002 Service 
			 20 November 2002 List from service 
			 21 January 2003 to 26 February 2003 Accident damage repairs 
			 3 March 2003 Wailer defective 
			 4 March 2003 Fail to start 
			 7 March 2003 Renew Wiring 
		
	
	
		Vehicle: NDZ 2505
		
			 Date Repair 
		
		
			 23 September 2002 Wiring defective 
			 3 October 2002 Hose reel blown off (nozzle) 
			 22 October 2002 Defective searchlight 
			 29 October 2002 Defective indicator 
			 9 November 2002 Main pump defective 
			 15 November 2002 Lead defective 
			 20 November 2002 Searchlight and locker light defective 
			 4 December 2002 Service 
			 5 December 2002 List from service 
			 18 December 2002 Fitted new hazard switch 
			 9 January 2003 Door strap and horn defective 
			 29 January 2003 Searchlight defective 
			 4 March 2003 Fail to start

Derryboy Primary School

Iris Robinson: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland when he expects work to commence on the installation of car-parking facilities adjacent to Derryboy Primary Schoool in the South Eastern Education and Library area.

Jane Kennedy: The South Eastern Education and Library Board are responsible for capital development at Derryboy Primary School. The Board has advised that additional land is required to enable the provision of car parking facilities at the school. The Board has identified a site and is awaiting a valuation from the Valuation and Lands Agency. When the valuation is available, the Board will be able to seek the approval of the Department of Education for the purchase of the site and to consider the project for inclusion in its minor works programme.

Hospitals

Iris Robinson: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland how many procedures were postponed at hospitals in Northern Ireland in the last 12 months; and how many of these postponements resulted from emergency pressures.

Des Browne: Information is not readily available in the form requested and could only be provided at disproportionate cost.

Hospitals

Iris Robinson: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland what criteria are used to assess the level of activity at hospitals in Northern Ireland.

Des Browne: Activity levels are assessed in terms of the number of beds and their usage, the number of sessions held and the number of attendances. Detailed definitions of all of the specific measures can be found in the DHSSPS annual Hospital Statistics publication which is available in the Library and from our website http://www.dhsspsni.gov.uk/stats&research/order.html.

Hospitals

Iris Robinson: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland how many cancellations and postponements of appointments there were at Northern Ireland hospitals in each of the last three years.

Des Browne: Information is not available in the form requested.

Hyster (Craigavon)

Michael Weir: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland what grants and other financial assistance have been made available to Hyster for the expansion of manufacturing at its Craigavon plant; and what assessment has been made of the impact on other Hyster plants in the UK as a result of grants given to support the expansion of manufacturing at its Craigavon plant.

Ian Pearson: My officials at Invest NI are in the process of finalising an agreement with NACCO Materials Handling Group, which manufactures a full range of forklift trucks under the Hyster and Yale brands. As that agreement has not yet been signed or approved by the Board of NACCO, I cannot provide you with specific financial information. I can, however, state that this project is not an expansion of current activities, but is aimed at securing and safeguarding current employment levels at Craigavon and an integral part of the appraisal process is to ensure that any proposed assistance does not disadvantage any other area of the UK.

Lisburn Peace and Reconciliation Partnership

Jeffrey M Donaldson: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland which organisations and projects have received grants from the Lisburn Peace and Reconciliation Partnership in each year since its formation.

Ian Pearson: The Lisburn Peace and Reconciliation Partnership was set up to administer a range of Measures under PEACE I and PEACE II Programmes. To date it has allocated funding of £4.47 million.
	The attached Annexes details the organisations and amounts which received funding from the PEACE I (Annex A) and PEACE II (Annex B) Programmes. The detail for the PEACE I Programme is only available at organisation and amount awarded level.

Neurosurgery Services

Iris Robinson: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland if he will make a statement on neurosurgery services in Northern Ireland, with particular reference to the availability of elective surgery.

Des Browne: Neurosurgery services in Northern Ireland are managed on a regional basis by the Royal Group of Hospitals Trust. Currently, the service is under significant pressure and limited elective neurosurgery is being carried out, the majority of cases being emergency and clinically urgent cases.
	The pressures on the Regional Neurosurgery service have arisen mainly as a result of shortages in experienced nursing staff, which is not a phenomenon particular to Northern Ireland; there are similar problems with this service throughout the NHS. Considerable efforts are being made by the Royal Group of Hospitals to address the current problems. These include the provision of additional theatre lists, the recruitment of nurses to allow additional neurosurgical beds to be opened, and treatment provided outside Northern Ireland for a small number of suitable patients.Work is also ongoing at the Royal Group of Hospitals in conjunction with the Health and Social Services Boards to consider proposals to further improve the service.

Schools Threshold Awards

Iris Robinson: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland which schools in the South Eastern Education and Library Board area will lose funding as a result of the Department of Education's decision on the changes to payment of the threshold award; and what the shortfall will be for each of the schools affected.

Jane Kennedy: As the increase in schools' delegated budgets in 2003–04 is greater than in 2002–03, the South Eastern Education and Library Board provided the schools it funds with threshold figures for planning purposes only. The Board compared the actual costs of the threshold salary uplift in 2002–03 with the nominal position had the threshold budget been included in the Aggregated Schools Budget that year. However, as the Board has increased its Aggregated Schools Budget by 9 per cent. in 2003–04, it is more appropriate for schools to consider their entire salary expenditure against their total budget before a budget shortfall can be inferred. It is also the case that the Board is proposing to its Finance and Property Services Committee to make £165,700 available to assist those schools with particular levels of threshold salary costs. In these circumstances, the final position will not be known until schools have completed their expenditure plans against their whole budget.

Sports Funding

Kate Hoey: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland how much funding has gone from the Northern Ireland Sports Council to the Northern Ireland Cycling Federation in the last three years.

Angela Smith: The Sports Council for Northern Ireland has not allocated any funding to the Northern Ireland Cycling Federation over the last three years.

Sports Funding

Kate Hoey: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland how many awards from the (a) Talented Athlete, (b) Talented Athlete Next Generation and (c) Talented Junior programmes have been made to cyclists who are members of the Northern Ireland Cycling Federation.

Angela Smith: One award has been made to a cyclist, who is a member of the Northern Ireland Cycling Federation, under the Talented Junior Programme in 2002–03. To date no awards from the Talented Athlete or Talented Athlete Next Generation programmes have been made directly to cyclists who are members of the Northern Ireland Cycling Federation.

Sports Funding

Kate Hoey: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland in what constituencies (a) Exchequer and (b) Lottery funding goes to prepare competitions in (i) hockey, (ii) athletics, (iii) cycling, (iv) swimming and (v) equestrianism to compete against British teams.

Angela Smith: Information on Exchequer and Lottery funding for sport is retained in accordance with how it is distributed, i.e. to sport, to individual athletes and by programme. Exchequer and Lottery funding is not distributed on a parliamentary constituency basis and consequently the details you have requested cannot be provided except at disproportionate cost.

Sports Funding

Kate Hoey: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland how much money has been allocated to (a) athletes and (b) equestrianism in Northern Ireland from (i) Lottery funding, and (ii) Exchequer funding in (a) 2000–01, (b) 2001–02, (c) 2002–03 and (d) 2003–04; and for which country the competitors allocated funding for the 2004 Olympic Games will be competing.

Angela Smith: The total amount of funding allocated to (a) athletics and (b) equestrianism in Northern Ireland from (i) Lottery Funding and (ii) Exchequer Funding in the years listed is as follows:
	
		(i) Lottery funding -- £
		
			  Talented athlete Talented athlete next generation Talented junior 
		
		
			 (a) Athletics
			 2000–01 92,962 20,502 36,225 
			 2001–02 25,524 18,150 — 
			 2002–03 80,560 11,560 31,500 
			 Total 199,046 50,212 67,725 
			 
			 (b) Equestrianism
			 2000–01 — — — 
			 2001–02 55,560 — — 
			 2002–03 32,800 6,600 — 
			 Total 88,360 6,600 — 
		
	
	All athletes and riders currently in receipt of Lottery Funding will, if selected, represent Ireland at the 2004 Olympic Games. However, as yet, selection for competition at the 2004 Olympic Games has not taken place, and it would therefore be premature to state that any of the individuals in receipt of awards will be competing. Furthermore any funding awarded is to assist towards preparation and training for major competition in general rather than specific competition such as the 2004 Olympic Games.
	
		(ii) Exchequer Funding -- £
		
			  (a) Athletics (b) Equestrianism 
		
		
			 2000–01 40,500 4,663.41 
			 2001–02 48,800 2,000 
			 2002–03 62,500 2,874 
			 Total 151,800 9,537.41 
		
	
	No awards for either Exchequer or Lottery have been issued for the period 2003–04.

Ulster Hospital

Iris Robinson: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland what assessment he has made of the impact on the Ulster Hospital of proposed restructuring of hospital services in the province, with particular reference to capital expenditure.

Des Browne: Under Developing Better Services, the Ulster Hospital will play an integral part in the delivery of acute services for the greater Belfast area.
	A 4-phase Strategic Development Plan for the Ulster Hospital, estimated at just over £100 million, was announced in July 2001 by the Department of Health, Social Services and Public Safety. Phase 1 has been completed at a cost of £1.5 million. The second phase is underway and due for completion during 2005–06 at an estimated cost of £44 million Phases 3 and 4, estimated at a cost of £5 8 million will address the modernisation of the A&E Unit and the enhancement of a range of services and facilities which will help ensure that the Ulster hospital fulfils its role as an acute hospital.
	The timetable and funding of these developments will be decided when detailed proposals have been agreed with the Trust.

Waiting Times

Iris Robinson: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland what the longest time is that any individual has been waiting for neurosurgical (a) admission and (b) initial outpatient assessment in Northern Ireland.

Des Browne: Information from the Royal Group of Hospitals indicates that at the end of January 2003 the longest time an individual has been waiting for neurosurgical admission is 3,308 days. That individual has been in regular contact with the consultant and has been receiving other treatment during that time.
	At the end of January 2003 the longest time an individual has been waiting for a first neurosurgical outpatient appointment is 749 days. That individual has cancelled their appointments on two occasions and has failed to attend on two other occasions. The first outpatient appointment was offered to the patient 183 days after the GP's referral.

DEPUTY PRIME MINISTER

Eland House

Norman Baker: To ask the Deputy Prime Minister whether a building research establishment environmental assessment method document has been prepared for the refurbishment at Eland House.

Christopher Leslie: There are no current plans for a major refurbishment of Eland House. Eland House did have a Design Stage, the Building Research Establishment Environmental Assessment Method (BREEAM) assessment in 1995, when its fit out for the then Department of the Environment was nearing completion. A Very Good rating was achieved.
	Recent works to remodel two floors for open plan accommodation did not significantly alter the design of the building and thus did not require a specific BREEAM assessment.

Area-based Initiatives

Matthew Green: To ask the Deputy Prime Minister if he will list area-based initiatives operating in (a) the West Midlands and (b) the south-east region, giving the (c) annual budget and (d) regional budget for each in each year since 2000.

Barbara Roche: I refer the hon. Member to the answer given to the hon. Member for Ludlow (Matthew Green) on 12 March 2003, Official Report, column 320W.

Conferences

Eric Pickles: To ask the Deputy Prime Minister what conferences his Department has (a) sponsored and (b) been represented at since May 2002; and what was the cost of each sponsored conference since May 2002.

Christopher Leslie: The main conference sponsored by the Office was the November 2002 Urban Summit conference at a cost of £300,000. The Summit contributed to Government's thinking on the future urban agenda, including the Sustainable Communities Plan.
	Other significant conferences that the Office has contributed to include:
	
		
			  £ 
		
		
			  
			  
			 UNECE 9th Conference on Urban and Regional research 90,000 
			 Six national E-local Government regional conferences 30,000 
			 Major Infrastructures Conference 26,000 
			 The Strategic Partnering Taskforce Conference 22,000 
			 NHS Confederation "Connecting 2002" Annual Conference 20,000 
			 New Economics Foundation Inner Cities 100 Forum 20,000 
		
	
	The Office has given support to a further 14 conferences, costing a total of £67,050.
	Information on conferences at which the Office has been represented is not held centrally and could be provided only at disproportionate cost.

Council Tax

David Ruffley: To ask the Deputy Prime Minister what estimates he has made of the cost of council tax collection and enforcement in each local authority in Suffolk.

Christopher Leslie: Local authorities in Suffolk reported council tax collection costs in 2002–03 as tabled as follows:
	
		
			  £000(1) 
		
		
			 Babergh 470 
			 Forest Heath 494 
			 Ipswich 1,173 
			 Mid Suffolk 274 
			 St. Edmundsbury 738 
			 Suffolk Coastal 774 
			 Waveney 469 
		
	
	(1)Budgeted figures
	Source
	2002–03 Budget Estimate Returns

Homebuy Scheme

Lynne Jones: To ask the Deputy Prime Minister what the budget is for the Homebuy scheme for (a) the current financial year and (b) 2003–04; and what his forecast is for spend as a percentage of budget by 31 March.

Tony McNulty: The Housing Corporation expects to spend 100 per cent. of the £42.1 million budget for the Homebuy scheme in the current financial year (2002–03). The amount of funding for the scheme for 2003–04 has not yet been determined.

Homeless People (Buckingham)

John Bercow: To ask the Deputy Prime Minister how many homeless people there were in the Buckingham constituency on 31 March 2002.

Barbara Roche: Aylesbury Vale District Council reported that there were 137 homeless households resident in all forms of temporary accommodation under statutory homelessness provisions on 31 March 2002. This information relates to households in the local authority area. Aylesbury Vale DC contains the entire Parliamentary constituency of Buckingham, and part of Aylesbury.
	Note:
	Includes households accommodated pending completion of enquiries by the local authority.
	Source
	ODPM P1(E) housing returns (quarterly).

Local Authority Employees

William Hague: To ask the Deputy Prime Minister when he will publish a model code of conduct for employees of local authorities under section 82 of Part III of the Local Government Act 2000; and if he will make a statement.

Christopher Leslie: The Office of the Deputy Prime Minister intends to issue a draft code for consultation later in the year.

Local Authority Funding

John Bercow: To ask the Deputy Prime Minister what representations he has received about the Local Authorities (Alteration of Requisite Calculations) (England) Regulations.

Christopher Leslie: No representations were received about the draft Local Authorities (Alteration of Requisite Calculations) (England) Regulations 2003, nor have any representations about those regulations been received since these regulations (S.I. 2003/195) were made.

Local Elections

David Drew: To ask the Deputy Prime Minister if he will make a statement on the time scale by which newly elected parish and town councillors must meet the requirements of the new Code of Practice

Christopher Leslie: Newly elected parish and town councillors are required to make a declaration of acceptance of office, which includes an undertaking to observe the code of conduct. The code requires that within 28 days of election or appointment to office, a member must register his financial and other interests.

Neighbourhood Warden Schemes

John Bercow: To ask the Deputy Prime Minister what assessment he has made of the pilot programme of neighbourhood wardens schemes across England and Wales.

Barbara Roche: The evaluation of Neighbourhood Wardens is ongoing and the final report is expected in the Summer. Evaluation of the Street Warden programme is in its early stages and interim reports are not yet available. A copy of the 'Neighbourhood Wardens Scheme Evaluation Case Studies—Preliminary Report' and the 'Implications Paper' has been placed in the in the Library of the House.

New Housing

John Bercow: To ask the Deputy Prime Minister what his policy is on balancing urban infill against new settlements.

Tony McNulty: "Sustainable Communities: Building for the Future" underlines the Government's determination to tackle housing shortages in a way that ensures communities are sustainable. Planning Policy Guidance note 3, 'Housing', sets out the Office of the Deputy Prime Minister's policy that local planning authorities should consider redevelopment of previously developed land for housing before greenfield sites, and states that urban extensions are likely to be more sustainable than new settlements.

New Housing

John Bercow: To ask the Deputy Prime Minister if he will make a statement on his target for new social housing in urban areas.

Tony McNulty: The Government have not set a target for new social housing in urban areas.

Rateable Values (Appeals)

Andrew Robathan: To ask the Deputy Prime Minister what the maximum time allotment for the appeals process under the rateable values system is.

Christopher Leslie: Rating appeals are dealt with in accordance with programmes drawn up by the valuation officers, and the valuation tribunals which will hear the appeals. There is no statutory time limit within which an appeal must be heard, but the programme will indicate the timetable for dealing with a particular appeal. Where an appeal is successful, interest is paid on the refund.

TRANSPORT

A59

Nigel Evans: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport if he will provide funding for an improvement to the junction of the A59 at the Clitheroe and Sabden junction.

David Jamieson: The Highways Agency will shortly take forward an improvement of this junction including a prohibition of right-turns and some changes of signing and lining. Lancashire county council are due to take control of this section of road this year and it will be for them to decide whether future improvements are necessary.

Air Travel Health Unit

Anne McIntosh: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport if he will make a statement on the (a) roles, (b) function and (c) staffing of the air travel health unit in his Department; and what the annual budget of the unit will be.

David Jamieson: The Aviation Health Unit, announced on 6 March, will become a centre of expertise and the primary source of advice to the Department for Transport and the Department for Health on health issues affecting air passengers and crew.
	Based at the offices of the Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) at Gatwick, it will offer advice to air passengers and crew; handle public enquiries; investigate potential new aviation health concerns; provide technical input into international organisations; and identify the need for, and manage, future research.
	The Head of the Unit will decide on staffing requirements. Funding of up to £200,000 a year will be provided by the Department for Transport until the CAA is given statutory duties for aviation health, allowing it to fund the unit's work out of charges imposed on the aviation industry.

Bicycle Safety

Keith Vaz: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport what recent representations he has received on bicycle safety in London.

David Jamieson: My Department has received eight such representations in the financial year 02/03. Cycling safety in London is the responsibility of the Mayor of London and Transport for London.

Departmental Staff

John Bercow: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport how many staff were employed by his Department in (a) 2001–02 and (b) 2002–03.

David Jamieson: I refer the hon. Member to the answer given by my hon. Friend the Minister for the Cabinet Office on 4 April 2003, Official Report, columns 891–92W.

Flight Time Limitations

Colin Pickthall: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport what discussions he has had with the British Airline Pilots Association about EU proposals to standardise flight time limitations throughout the EU; and if he will make a statement.

David Jamieson: holding answer 8 April 2003
	There have been several meetings between BALPA and the Civil Aviation Authority at which the European Parliament's proposal has been discussed. The CAA has reviewed the European Parliament's proposed FTL requirements. They advise that, while the requirements are not totally acceptable, with suitable amendment they could form a baseline European FTL requirement which could be supplemented by additional requirements in each Member State. We recognise the need for FTL requirements to be harmonised at a European level and should the proposal come before the Council we will work constructively with other Member States to ensure that it is appropriately amended.

Local Transport Plan

Ivan Henderson: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport how much funding the Harwich constituency has received under the local transport plan since 1997.

David Jamieson: Since year 2000, allocations under the Local Transport Plan procedures (and prior to that their predecessor Transport Policies and Programme) have been made by my Department to local transport authorities, in this case Essex county Council. LTPs identify individual schemes costing over £5 million as 'major schemes'; make a block allocations for integrated transport measures each costing less than £5 million; and make an allocation for maintenance based on a common formula. Figures are kept only for the Tendring district council area as a whole and so it is possible to identify expenditure falling solely within the Harwich constituency only for major schemes, by reference to their location.
	
		Expenditure on named schemes in the Tendring district of Essex -- £000
		
			 Scheme 1998–99 1999–2000 2000–01 2001–02 2002–03(2) 
		
		
			 A133 Little Clacton Bypass 166 381 394 0 0 
			 A120 Dovercourt Bypass Stage 2 Phase 1 9 14 18 0 0 
			 A133 Little Clacton Bypass and Gorse Lane Link Stage 2 95 16 0 0 0 
			 A136 Parkeston Bypass Stage 1 491 322 207 16 -2 
			 A136 Parkeston Bypass Stage 2 103 0 0 656 973 
			 B1029 Brightlingsea Bends 0 15 12 15 296 
			 Jaywick Relief Road 250 0 0 0 0 
			 Jaywick Spine Road Stage 2 0 0 0 341 236 
			 Total 1,114 748 631 1,028 1,503 
		
	
	(2) Not final
	
		Expenditure in Tendring district under LTP on:
		
			  £ £ 
		
		
			 Integrated Transport Scheme 409,000 437,000 
			 Roads maintenance 1,529,000 779,000 
		
	
	Note:
	Figures for earlier years are unavailable.

Crossrail

Tom Brake: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport pursuant to his answer of 3 February 2003, Official Report, column 40W, on Crossrail, when his Department will announce its final decision on the project.

David Jamieson: The Department is continuing to examine proposals for Crossrail. Decisions on the way forward and on the timing of any announcements have yet to been taken.

M1

Greg Knight: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport when he expects the M1 motorway in both directions between junctions 23 and 25 to be devoid of lane closures due to roadworks.

John Spellar: I have asked the Chief Executive of the Highways Agency, Tim Matthews, to write to the right hon. Member.
	Letter from David York to Mr. Greg Knight, dated 9 April 2003
	Tim Matthews has been asked by the Transport Minister, John Spellar, to reply to your recent Parliamentary Question about roadworks on the Ml Motorway between Junctions 23 and 25. I am replying as Tim is currently away on Highways Agency business.
	There are two schemes currently being undertaken on the M1 north of Junction 23. which are expected to continue until Spring 2004. The first, involving major maintenance work to resurface the carriageways with low noise material and renew drainage installations between Junctions 24 and 25, began in January. That work is expected to be complete by June. (Phase 1, about which I wrote to you in March last year following a previous Parliamentary Question, was completed in early summer 2002.) The second involves upgrading the motorway communications in this area and extends from Junction 24 to Junction 27.
	Wherever practicable, the Agency seeks to combine roadworks, as is being done here, in order to minimise disruption to road users. For the resurfacing/drainage work a contraflow system is in operation with three lanes of traffic running in each direction between 6 am and 8 pm (10 pm Friday and 9 pm Sunday) and a 50 mph speed restriction applies for safety reasons. When lane closures are required, work is normally scheduled either overnight or outside peak periods, in accordance with the target set for us by ministers to ensure that at least 98.5% of running lanes are available for use during peak hours. The majority of the communications upgrading work is being carried out at night with closure of lane one and the hard shoulder.
	I should add that further minor works art planned at Junctions 23A and 24 but, due to the nature of the work and the potential disruption that would be caused to the surrounding road network, these will not go ahead until the current -major works are completed. They are programmed for completion during this financial year.
	This is a particularly heavily used length of motorway. The Agency is doing all it can to keep disruption to a minimum but I am afraid there will inevitably be some delays at peak times.
	If you would like any further information, Iftikhar Mir, the Agency's Route Manager for this length of the M1, would be pleased to help. He can be contacted at our offices at Broadway, Broad Street, Birmingham B15 1BL, or by telephone on 0121 678 8025.

Pollution

Helen Clark: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, pursuant to his answer to the hon. Member for South-East Cambridgeshire (Mr. Paice) of 6 March 2003, Official Report, columns 1155–56W, on pollution, what sources were used to calculate the cost of abatement of pollutants.

David Jamieson: The data presented in my answer were based on work from a number of different sources. Figures for the cost of emissions reduction from LPG vehicles were calculated using work carried out by the Energy Saving Trust as part of the Government's Powershift programme.
	Figures for the costs of carbon reduction for biofuels were based on a range of 'life-cycle' CO2 values from the following published studies:
	CONCAWE (2002) Energy and Greenhouse Gas Balance for Biofuels for Europe—an update;
	L-B-Systemtechnik Consultancy (2002). Well-to-wheel analysis of energy use and the greenhouse gas emissions of advanced fuel/vehicle systems—a European Study; and
	Mortimer, N.D, Cormack, P, Elsayed, M.A, and Home, R.E. (2003). Evaluation of the Comparative Energy, Global Warming and Socio-Economic Costs and Benefits of Biodiesel. Sheffield Hallam University.
	The data on the local air quality emissions performance of bioethanol were drawn from the following research commissioned by the DfT:
	AEA Technology (2002) Ethanol Emissions testing.

Central Railways Project

David Lidington: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport what discussions (a) his Department and (b) the Strategic Rail Authority have had with Chiltern Rail on the impact of the proposed Central Railways project on passenger services.

David Jamieson: The Strategic Rail Authority has commissioned studies to examine, inter alia, the impact of the Central Railways proposals on the existing rail network and services (both passenger and freight).

Rail Services

Mark Lazarowicz: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport what discussions he has had with the Strategic Rail Authority regarding the impact of its Capacity Utilisation Policy on rail services to and from Edinburgh.

David Jamieson: The Strategic Rail Authority (SRA) has consulted widely on its Capacity Utilisation Policy and has recently published a Statement of Principles (copy in the House Library). The next stage is for the SRA to commence route by route studies of Capacity Utilisation and at this stage local stakeholders will be consulted about the possible impact of the Policy in their localities.

Railway Safety

Tim Collins: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport what assessment he has made of the adequacy of information collected on incidents affecting passenger (a) experiences and (b) perceptions of personal safety when using the railways; and if he will make a statement.

David Jamieson: The British Transport Police records all reported crime on the railways in accordance with Home Office instructions and standards. The Strategic Rail Authority's twice yearly "National Passenger Survey" includes questions on passengers' perceptions of safety. The survey is carried out to an approved methodology in accordance with Market Research Society's codes of conduct.

Virgin Trains

Don Foster: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport if he will make a statement on recent SRA directions to Virgin trains regarding their financial position.

David Jamieson: The Strategic Rail Authority has determined franchise payments for both Virgin franchises for the year March 2003 to February 2004.

Volatile Organic Compounds

Alan Keen: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport what the volatile organic compounds level is (a) in the south east region of England and (b) in the vicinity of the main airports in the south east region of England.

Alun Michael: I have been asked to reply.
	Volatile organic compounds are monitored at nine sites in the south east region of England. The annual mean data for benzene and 1,3-butadiene are given in tables 1 and 2. Further information for a wider range of other volatile organic compounds is available on the National Air Information Quality Archive (www.airquality.co.uk) for two of these sites.
	Defra does not undertake any volatile organic compounds measurements at the main airports in the south east region of England. BAA has undertaken measurements of benzene and 1,3-butadiene at Gatwick and Heathrow. These indicated that concentrations of both pollutants are below the levels set in the Air Quality Strategy.
	
		Table 1: Means of measured Benzene concentrations, in micrograms per metre cubed, (Wg/m(5)) at UK hydrocarbon sites 
		
			  Annual mean 
			 Monitoring Site 1999 2000 2001 2002 
		
		
			 Harwell(3) 0.88 0.53 0.62 0.60 
			 Marylebone Road (4) 10.75 6.29 4.55 3.91 
			 Oxford Centre (5) n/a n/a n/a (6)1.40 
			 Reading (7) n/a n/a n/a (8)1.43 
			 Southampton Centre (7) n/a n/a n/a 1.63 
			 Portsmouth (7) n/a n/a n/a (8)1.17 
			 Hove roadside (5) n/a n/a n/a (6)1.66 
			 London Bloomsbury (7) n/a n/a n/a (8)1.56 
			 Haringey roadside (5) n/a n/a n/a (6)2.63 
		
	
	Notes:
	(3) Rural
	(4) Kerbside
	(5) Roadside
	(6) Site began in February 2002
	(7) Urban background
	(8) Site began in May 2002
	
		Table 2: Means of measured 1,3-Butadiene concentrations in micrograms per metre cubed, (Wg/m(11)) at UK automatic hydrocarbon sites
		
			  Annual Mean 
			 Monitoring Site 1999 2000 2001 2002 
		
		
			  
			  
			 Harwell(9) 0.10 0.09 0.11 0.04 
			 Marylebone Road(10) 1.87 1.63 1.12 0.95 
		
	
	Notes:
	(9) Rural
	(10) Kerbside

TRADE AND INDUSTRY

National Minimum Wage

Ian Davidson: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry if she will estimate (a) the number of people who would benefit from a rise in the national minimum wage to £6 per hour, (b) how much Government expenditure would be saved by the consequential reduction of means tested benefits and (c) what the economic consequences would be of such a rise, with a statement of how she arrived at her estimate; and if she will make a statement.

Alan Johnson: The information is as follows:
	(a) DTI estimates that around six million people would be directly affected by an increase in the National Minimum Wage (NMW) to £6. The balance between workers who would benefit and those who would not benefit would depend on the extent of employment reductions following such a large increase.
	(b) The impact of an increase in the NMW was estimated by the Government and provided in the Low Pay Commission's fourth report (table 6.5, p195). The effect of a 30 pence increase in the adult rate of the NMW in 2003–04 is estimated to provide net savings to the Exchequer of £260 million for a full year. The effect on the Exchequer of a £6 per hour NMW rate for adults cannot be estimated in this way because the assumption of no behavioural change in response to the change in the NMW rates which underlies the estimate would not be plausible.
	(c) A 6 NMW would see over one-fifth of the UK workforce receiving wage increases of up to 43 per cent., without any offsetting gains in output. That is likely to sap company profitability, add significantly to price pressures and prompt employers to cut employment levels.
	The Government are determined to help the low paid, but not at the cost of damaging the economy or creating increased unemployment for the very people we want to help. Following advice from the Low Pay Commission, we recently announced substantial increases to the minimum wage to take place in October 2003 which will help between 1.3 and 1.6 million low-paid workers, more than ever before.

National Minimum Wage

Phil Willis: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry 
	(1)  how many (a) adults and (b) employers were on the adult development rate of the national minimum wage in (i) 2001, (ii) 2002 and (iii) 2003;
	(2)  what the guidelines are for the operation of the adult development rate of the national minimum wage;
	(3)  what the guidelines are for payment of the national minimum wage.

Alan Johnson: Around 60,000 adults were eligible for the older workers' Development Rate in both 2001 and 2002, according to data from the Labour Force Survey (LFS). There are no LFS figures for 2003 available yet.
	Use of the older workers' Development Rate remains small. According to a survey of employers in low-paying sectors by the Low Pay Commission, 4 per cent. of employers said they used it. This is likely to be an over-estimate of the use of the Development Rate among employers in the economy as a whole. However, the Commission recommended in their recent report that, on balance, they thought the older workers' Development Rate should remain in place for the time being.
	Guidelines on the operation of the minimum wage are contained in the booklet, "A Detailed Guide to the National Minimum Wage", which is available from the Inland Revenue's National Minimum Wage helpline 0845–6000–678, and is also available on the Department of Trade and Industry's website at: www.dti.gov.uk/er/nmw. I will send the hon. Member a copy.

Arms Exports

Barry Gardiner: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry whether the measures relating to the use of intranets in the draft Orders under the Export Control Act 2000 require that intranet servers are located in the United Kingdom.

Nigel Griffiths: The consultation document on the draft secondary legislation sets out how the proposed controls on the electronic transfer of information would operate in respect of the location and use of internet servers.
	Whether or not a licence is required depends on where the addressee of an electronic transfer is located, not on where the transfer may be routed in the course of the transfer.

British Summer Time

Jenny Tonge: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry what plans she has to review the application of (a) British Summer Time and (b) Greenwich Mean Time.

Alan Johnson: The Government have no plans to alter the present summer time arrangements, but we shall continue to listen to the arguments for and against change.

Civil Space Aid

David Laws: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry pursuant to her answer of 11 February, Official Report, column 660W, if she will make a statement on the value for money which has been secured from spending on civil space aid for the period from 1997 to 2003.

Patricia Hewitt: holding answer 8 April 2003
	A comprehensive review by Technopolis Group Ltd. examined the impact and achievements of public support for UK civil space activities and was published by my Department in 2001. It concluded that it has been appropriate for the UK to contribute to the development of a global space infrastructure and the sponsorship of pioneering services. It also recommended that the Partners in the British National Space Centre explore ways in which they might improve the evidence base from which they formulate policies and evaluate opportunities. As a result, in parallel with the preparation of the new draft UK Space Strategy, my Department has commissioned researchers from SQW and SPRU (University of Sussex) to assess the extent to which DTI funded business support programmes have generated economic benefits for the UK. The results of this study will be published.

Commercial Confidentiality

Rob Marris: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry what guidance her Department issues to civil servants on how to deal with claims from organisations that the information they provide to the Department is commercially confidential.

Patricia Hewitt: It is not standard practice to verify claims of commercial confidentiality on receiving information from organisations as this issue is normally only relevant if the question arises as to whether the information should be disclosed to another party.
	The Code of Practice on Access to Government Information and the guidance on the operation of the Code helps officials determine whether such information should be disclosed or withheld in response to an individual request. Exemption 13 of the Code of Practice specifically exempts a third party's commercial confidences. The Code and accompanying guidance is available to staff on the DTI intranet.
	While it is ultimately for my Department to determine, in accordance with the Code, whether to disclose information in response to requests we receive, third parties whose interests may be adversely affected are normally consulted in order to inform the Department's decision.
	Similar considerations apply if the information requested is environmental information which is subject to the Environmental Information Regulations as distinct from the Code of Practice.

Departmental Fees

Austin Mitchell: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry if she will list the fees paid by her Department to (a) PricewaterhouseCoopers, (b) Deloitte & Touche, (c) KPMG and (d) Ernst & Young since January 2002.

Melanie Johnson: Central records indicate that the following fees have been paid in the period since January 2002:
	
		
			  £ 
		
		
			 PricewaterhouseCoopers 8,407,225 
			 Deloitte & Touche 6,415,336 
			 KPMG 64,625 
			 Ernst & Young 1,357,586

Document Classification

Harry Cohen: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry how many documents are held by her Department that are subject to security classification, broken down by category of classification.

Patricia Hewitt: It is not possible to provide the requested statistics without incurring disproportionate cost.

External Consultants

David Laws: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry how much (a) her Department and (b) each agency and non-departmental public body spent on external consultancy in each year from 1995–96 to 2002–03 (planned); and if she will make a statement.

Patricia Hewitt: I refer the hon. Member to the answer given by my Noble Friend, Lord Sainsbury on 14 January 2003, Official Report, column 26. Central records indicate that for the current financial year, 2002–03, £35 million is at present committed for consultancy.
	I have asked the Department's Executive Agencies to respond directly to the hon. Member. Information by NDPBs is not held centrally and could be produced only at disproportionate cost.
	Letter from Claire Clancy to Mr. David Laws dated 9 April 2003
	I am responding to your recent Parliamentary Question to the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry on external consultancy expenditure on behalf of Companies House, which is an Executive Agency of the DTI.
	The expenditure incurred on external consultancy was as follows:
	
		
			 Financial Year £000 
		
		
			 2002–03(11) 2,454 
			 2001–02 504 
			 2000–01 564 
			 1999–2000 1,111 
		
	
	(11) Planned
	I am sorry but the data for years 1995–96 to 1998–99 is not readily available and can only be provided at disproportionate cost.
	Letter from Roger Heathcote to David Laws dated 9 April 2003
	You tabled a Parliamentary Question on 17 January 2003 to the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry, asking how much (a) her Department and (b) each agency and non departmental public body spent on external consultancy in each year from 1995–96 to 2002–03 (planned); and if she will make a statement. I have been asked to reply in respect of the Employment Tribunals Service (ETS) which is an executive agency of the DTI.
	Central records indicate that contracts for consultancy for the Employment Tribunals Service were/will be as follows:
	
		
			 Financial year £000 
		
		
			 1999–2000 186 
			 2000–01 106 
			 2001–02 130 
			 2002–03(12) 64 
		
	
	(12) Estimated
	This central data is only available from 1999. Data for the three previous years are not readily available and can only be provided at disproportionate cost.
	"Consultants" is a rather imprecise term. Figures given are the totals of those entered into the Agency's accounts system under its specific consultancy categories: Estates, ICT and Human Resources.
	Letter from Caren Fullerton to Mr. David Laws dated 9 April 2003
	I am replying to your Parliamentary Question 921 tabled on 17 January 2003, about how much (a) the Secretary of State's department and (b) each agency and non-departmental public body spent on external consultancy in each year from 1995–96 to 2002–03 (planned).
	The figures given below indicate Patent Office spending on external consultancy from 1995–96 to 2002–03:
	
		
			 Year £000 
		
		
			 1995–96 138 
			 1996–97 124 
			 1997–98 39 
			 1998–99 8 
			 1999–2000 16 
			 2000–01 26 
			 2001–02 53 
			 2002–03 70 
		
	
	Letter from Dr. J. W. Llewellyn to Mr. David Laws dated 9 April 2003
	The Secretary for Trade and Industry has asked me to reply on behalf of the National Weights and Measures Laboratory (NWML) to your question on how much her Department and each agency and non departmental public body spent on external consultancy in each year from 1995–96 to 2002–03 (planned).
	National Weights and Measures Laboratory spent the following on external consultancy in each year from 1995–96 to 2002–2003 (planned):
	
		
			 Financial Year Amount (£) 
		
		
			 1995–96 9,000 
			 1996–97 2,000 
			 1997–98 11,000 
			 1998–99 50,000 
			 1999–2000 63,000 
			 2000–01 68,000 
			 2001–02 31,000 
			 2002–03(13) 98,000 
		
	
	(13) Planned
	Letter from Desmond Flynn to Right Hon. David Laws dated 9 April 2003
	The Secretary of State for Trade and Industry has asked me to reply to your question (2002–921) requesting information on money spent on external consultancy in each year from 1995–96 to 2002–03 (planned) by the Department, its agencies and Non-Departmental Public Bodies (NDPBs).
	The Insolvency Service spent the following amounts on external consultants and advisors since 1995–96:
	
		
			 Year £000 
		
		
			 1995–96 502 
			 1996–97 12 
			 1997–98 Nil 
			 1998–99 5 
			 1999–2000 Nil 
			 2000–01 Nil 
			 2001–02 125 
			 2002–03(14) Nil 
		
	
	(14) Planned
	The above costs relate to consultancy assistance in developing Agency policy.
	Letter from Martin Wyn Griffith to David Laws dated 9 April 2003
	Your Parliamentary Question to Mrs Hewitt asked how much her Department, Agencies and NDPBs spent on external consultancy, in each year from 1995/96 to 2002/3 (planned). I am replying on behalf of the Small Business Service (SBS).
	The SBS was launched as an Agency on 1 April 2000. Therefore, information on expenditure has only been available since that date.
	The value of contracts for external consultancy for the period from 1 April 2000 to 31 March 2002 is approximately as follows:
	F/Y 2000/2001—£0.8 million
	F/Y 2001/2002—£3.0 million
	Information on the value of consultancy contracts for the period 1 April 2002 to 31 December 2002 and planned contract for 1 January to 31 March 2003, could only be obtained at disproportionate cost.
	Letter from Ms R. J. R. Anderson to David Laws dated 9 April 2003
	The Secretary of State for Trade and Industry has asked me to reply on behalf of the Radiocommunications Agency to your Parliamentary Question about expenditure on external consultants.
	Agency expenditure (ex-VAT) in each of the last eight financial years is as follows:
	
		
			 Financial Year £ 
		
		
			 1995–96 256,000 
			 1996–97 761,768 
			 1997–98 2,478,987 
			 1998–99 2,602,017 
			 1999–2000 1,963,878 
			 2000–01 1,947,799 
			 2001–02 654,000 
			 2002–03 88,713

External Reports

Francis Maude: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry if she will list (a) the title and subject, (b) the total cost to her Department and (c) the commissioned author or organisation of each external report commissioned by her Department in each year since 1997.

Patricia Hewitt: I have understood an external report to be a report produced at the request of government by a person, group or organisation external to the department and which is publicly available. To distinguish the external reports produced by my Department, and provide their commissioned authors or organisations, could only be done at disproportionate cost, as this information is not held centrally.
	However a list of all DTI publications produced since 12 February 2002, which have been notified to my Department's Publications Unit, has been placed in the Libraries of the House. For publications produced prior to this date I refer the hon Member to the answer given to the hon Member for Buckingham on 25 February 2002, Official Report, column 849W.
	The listing includes the total production cost to the Department of each publication (where notified centrally), and excludes publications for internal use. The subject of each publication could not be included in the list without disproportionate cost, but the subject of most publications is clear form the title.

Market Testing

John Bercow: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry what the estimated level of saving to the Department is from the use of market testing in 2002–03.

Patricia Hewitt: The Department of Trade and Industry has not undertaken any market testing in the year 2002–03.

Pensions/Benefits Payments

Tim Yeo: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry if she will list telephone services operated by her Department in order to provide advice or services relating to changes in the method of paying pensions and benefits; and if she will place in the Library copies of the scripts used by the people answering the telephones.

Patricia Hewitt: The customer telephone helpline services, concerning changes to the payment arrangements for benefits and pensions, are operated by the Department for Work and Pensions.

Street Works

Andrew Robathan: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry what discussions her Department has had with the UK broadband industry regarding proposed changes to the legislative framework regulating street works.

Stephen Timms: There have been discussions with a number of telecoms operators at ministerial and official level regarding the proposed street works legislation.

MINISTER FOR WOMEN

Document Classification

Harry Cohen: To ask the Minister for Women how many documents are held by her office that are subject to security classification, broken down by category of classification.

Patricia Hewitt: It is not possible to provide the requested statistics without incurring disproportionate cost.

EU Funding

Anne McIntosh: To ask the Minister for Women what recent EU funding her Department has received from the Daphne programme; and what specific projects were supported by such funding.

Patricia Hewitt: To date, there has been no funding bid submitted to the Daphne programme by this Department. We are currently liaising with non-governmental organisations so that they are aware of the opportunities offered by the new Daphne programme.

TREASURY

Crown Estate

Alistair Carmichael: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer pursuant to his answer of 31 March, Official Report, column 560W, on the Crown Estate, when a Minister from the Treasury last met Crown Estate representatives; and what issues were discussed.

Paul Boateng: I refer the hon. Gentleman to the answer given by the Chancellor of the Exchequer on 11 February 2002 Official Report columns 114–115W.

Crown Estate

Alistair Carmichael: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer pursuant to his Answer of 31 March, Official Report, column 560W, on the Crown Estate, what assessment has been made of the impact of Crown Estate charges levied for use of the seabed on those who pay it.

Paul Boateng: Rents charged by The Crown Estate for use of the seabed are established by professional valuers in negotiation with users and where appropriate involve consultation with the relevant industry or interest groups. The rents are set at levels appropriate to the market conditions and must not take advantage of any monopoly interest. Any tenant may have the level of rent independently evaluated by the Valuation Office.

Departmental Catering Services

John Bercow: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what the cost was of (a) the in-house canteen and (b) other catering services provided by the Department in 2002.

Ruth Kelly: The cost of the staff restaurant and associated facilities provided by the Treasury's caterers during 2001–02 was £156,126. The cost of other catering services was £198,048.

Inspectorates

Archie Norman: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer how many (a) staff and (b) staff engaged in inspection work have been employed by (i) HM Customs and Excise and (ii) the Inland Revenue in each year since 1997.

John Healey: The information is as follows:
	(a) Total Staff
	Details of how many staff were employed by HM Customs and Excise are contained in the HM Customs and Excise Spring 2002 Departmental Report, published in June 2002. Inland Revenue figures can be found in two publications: the "Inland Revenue Government Expenditure Plans 2000–02", published in April 2000; and the "Inland Revenue Government Expenditure Plans 2002–04", published in June 2002. Copies of these reports are available in the Library of the House.
	(b) Staff Engaged in Inspection Work
	Customs staff engage in a variety of activities which can include the inspection of goods, documents, accounts, electronic files, vehicles and premises. It is not possible to give the information requested, as the question is formulated in too general a manner—Exemption 9 of the Open Government Code applies.
	The Inland Revenue undertakes a variety of activities to monitor and ensure compliance. Chiefly, this concerns inquiries into the tax returns of individuals, businesses and companies, and reviews of employer compliance. Though figures for earlier years are not available, the number of staff engaged in this work was 12,622 in 1999–2000, 12,439 in 2000–01 and 13,130 in 2001–02. This involves staff at different levels working in local offices, the Large Business Office and the Special Compliance Office.

Staff Taxis

Norman Baker: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer how much was spent in 2002 on providing taxis for staff.

Ruth Kelly: holding answer 28 March 2003
	The Treasury meets the cost of taxis necessarily used by its staff for official business. When a member of staff is required to work until after 9pm, it will also meet the cost of a taxi home. In 2002, total expenditure on the Department's taxi and courier contract was £111,000. Of this, some £3,500 was in respect of taxis home.

Sunset Clauses

John Bercow: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer if he will list the sunset clauses included in legislation from his Department since 1997.

Ruth Kelly: No substantive provision of post-1997 legislation for which the Chancellor's Department is responsible lapses automatically after a specified period of time or ceases to have effect on a particular date.
	However, some of the transitional provisions connected with the coming into force of the Financial Services and Markets Act 2000 cease to have effect on a certain date.
	In addition, certain provisions in legislation for which the Treasury is responsible cease to have effect on the occurrence of a particular event. For example, legislation which implements United Nations Security Council Resolutions which call on the UK to impose financial sanctions generally provide that if the United Nations Security Council cancel the operation of the relevant Resolution, the Order ceases to have effect.

ENVIRONMENT FOOD AND RURAL AFFAIRS

Apples and Pears

Hugh Robertson: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what progress is being made over proposals to amend the EC marketing standard for apples and pears.

Elliot Morley: holding answer 8 April 2003
	The EU Commission tabled further proposals to amend the marketing standard for apples and pears at a meeting of member states' experts on 28 March. Our Horticultural Marketing Inspectorate is consulting widely on these proposals.

Conservation Boards

James Gray: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs pursuant to her answer of 1 April 2003, Official Report, column 641W, on conservation boards, what steps conservation boards could take to avoid paying VAT.

Alun Michael: As I explained in my previous reply, I am considering the options. I will write to the hon. Member in due course.

Departmental Budget

David Laws: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what her estimate is of the proportion of her Department's budget which is spent on food, fishing and farming and which is discretionary, rather than being passed through from the European Union; and if she will make a statement.

Alun Michael: Of the Department's Departmental Expenditure Limit (DEL) budget, 4.8 per cent. is allocated to the Food, Farming and Fisheries Directorate-General, and 14.8 per cent. of that allocation is to cover national expenditure under various European Union (EU) schemes, that is expenditure which is additional to that provided by the European Union. No EU funds relating to this Directorate-General's budget are passed through the Department's DEL.

Departmental Running Costs

John Bercow: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what the running costs in 2002 were of (a) her Ministers' private offices, separately identifying expenditure on staff, and (b) her Department.

Alun Michael: The running cost of this Department's Secretariat, including Ministers' private offices, for the financial year 2001–02 (from June 2001 when the Defra was created) was £2,757,000, of which £1,907,000 was on pay. Running costs for 2002–03 are forecast to be in the region of £3,380,000 of which £2,340,000 will be on pay.
	The actual 2001–02 administrative cost budget outturn for the whole Department was £643.9 million. The departmental running cost figure for 2002–03 will be published shortly in departmental appropriation and resource accounts.

EU Directives

John Bercow: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs if she will list the EU Directives and Regulations which have been implemented by her Department since 17 April 2002.

Alun Michael: The Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs plays a leading role in the UK's EU policy on the environment, agriculture, fisheries, animal and plant health. Since 17 April 2002, the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs has led on the implementation of 32 Directives. The attached table shows the Directives implemented during the period.
	EC regulations are, in general, directly applicable in the Member States, without the need for further incorporation into national law. However, some regulations require UK measures to make them workable and enforceable. Some regulations enact small or technical amendments. As far as we have been able to verify there have been no regulations that have needed further measures to incorporate into national law during the period.

Horticultural Research

Hugh Robertson: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what progress is being made on the review into the future of horticultural research.

Elliot Morley: holding answer 8 April 2003
	Following the Government response to the Quinquennial Review of Horticultural Research International (HRI) announced on 20 January, Defra has been engaged in negotiations with HRI, the University of Warwick and the East Mailing Trust to establish whether the scenarios recommended by the Quinquennial Review team are achievable and affordable and whether any further Government investment is necessary.
	Good progress has been made. All the policy, legal and financial issues which need to be addressed have been identified and action has been put in hand to take them forward. This work will underpin the business cases which will inform the Government's detailed decisions on the new bodies intended to replace HRI.
	HRI is an exceptionally complex business and it has not proved possible to conclude the initial phase of the negotiations by the end of March as we had hoped. We are still working towards the original target date of 1 April 2004 for the new bodies to be operational.
	The Department is appreciative of the positive and committed way in which all the parties engaged in these delicate negotiations are working together to achieve a successful and stable future for HRI. It is optimistic that it will be in a position to make a more definitive announcement in the near future.

League Against Cruel Sports

James Gray: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what steps she will take to investigate the treatment of the deer in the League Against Cruel Sports sanctuary, Baronsdown on Exmoor.

Elliot Morley: Veterinary Officers from my Department have visited the Baronsdown Deer Sanctuary. I have considered the report of the visit and I am satisfied that there is no evidence of the deer exhibiting signs of ill treatment or suffering.

National Orchard

Hugh Robertson: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what gains and losses in (a) actual and (b) percentage terms there have been in the size of the National Orchard in 2002.

Elliot Morley: holding answer 8 April 2003
	The area of the National Orchard fell by 2.4 thousand hectares (11 per cent.) between 2001 and 2002. The table as follows shows the results of the Orchard Fruit Surveys 1997–2002.
	
		Orchard Fruit Survey England and Wales (excluding minor holdings)
		
			 Year Tree area (hectares) Percentage change 
		
		
			  
			  
			 1997 23,523 — 
			 1998 21,981 -6.6 
			 1999 21,483 -2.3 
			 2000 20,823 -3.1 
			 2001(15) (15)21,104 (15)1.4 
			 2002 18,739 -11.2 
		
	
	(15) 2001 figures revised when 2002 results were published

Over-30-months Scheme

Andrew George: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs how often meat and bone meal storage facilities for material produced under the over-30-month scheme are inspected; when the last inspection for each facility took place; and if she will make a statement.

Alun Michael: Over-30-month scheme (OTMS) meat and bone meal storage facilities are subject to regular control visits, which are carried out by the Rural Payments Agency. The Agency undertakes quarterly Technical Inspectorate visits to such stores to check the integrity of the store, and that the scheme controls and paperwork are being correctly administered. In addition the Agency's OTMS operations team also carry out periodic site inspections on an ad hoc basis. This is the team responsible for the ongoing storage and disposal arrangements relating to OTMS meat and bone meal.
	In addition, when stores are either taking in or outloading material, the Agency employs the Meat and Livestock Commission as its agent to provide daily controls. These include overseeing the integrity and security of the site, accounting for every kilogram of meat and bone meal held in stock, and monitoring all activity that takes place on the storage sites. All stores are currently outloading material, but the date of the last inspection at each store is shown in the following table:
	
		
			 Store name Location Date of latest inspection 
		
		
			 Glenrothes Glenrothes, Scotland 27 March 2003 
			 Bonnington Kirknewtown, Scotland 6 February 2003 
			 Blyton Blyton, Lincolnshire, England 18 March 2003 
			 Barkston Heath Barkston Heath, Lincolnshire, England 18 March 2003 
			 Preston Preston, Lancashire, England 19 March 2003 
			 Longton Longton, Lancashire, England 3 April 2003 
			 Widnes Widnes, Cheshire, England 5 March 2003 
			 Alleena Prescott, Chesire, England 17 March 2003 
			 Greendale Woodbury Salterton, Devon, England 1 April 2003 
			 Wrangaton Wrangaton, Devon, England 1 April 2003 
			 Supermix Newtonstewart, Northern Ireland 25 March 2003 
			 Maghaberry Ballinderry, Northern Ireland 28 March 2003 
			 Mallusk Newtonabbey, Northern Ireland 20 March 2003 
			 Castledawson Castledawson, Northern Ireland 25 March 2003

Over-30-months Scheme

Andrew George: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs how old the oldest meat and bone meal produced as a result of the over-30-month scheme is which is stored by her Department and its non-departmental public bodies.

Alun Michael: Meat and bone meal is stored in heaps and it is not possible to be precise about the age of that which remains in store. However it is likely that some of this material produced in the earliest weeks of the scheme (May 1996) remains in store pending incineration. To date the Rural Payments Agency has incinerated (for the most part with energy recovery) some 593,465 tonnes out of 736,797 tonnes of the material produced under the over-30-month scheme since its commencement in May 1996, this equates to 79 per cent. of the material produced. All of the storage sites are currently outloading the material to incineration plants.

Pensions

Oliver Heald: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs if she will list the (a) funded and (b) unfunded public sector pension schemes for which her Department, its agencies and its non-departmental public bodies are responsible; when the last actuarial valuation was of each scheme; what the value was of the assets at the last actuarial valuation of each scheme; what deficit is disclosed by the last actuarial valuation of each scheme; and if she will make a statement.

Alun Michael: Staff in the Department of Environment, Food and Rural Affairs and its six agencies i.e. the Central Science Laboratory, the Veterinary Laboratories Agency, the Centre for Environmental Fisheries and Aquaculture Science, the Pesticides Safety Directorate, the Veterinary Medicines Directorate and the Rural Payments Agency are members of the unfunded Principal Civil Service Pension Scheme which is the responsibility of the Cabinet Office.
	Information on the pension arrangements for the staff of the Department's non- departmental public bodies is not held centrally and could be provided only at disproportionate cost.

Planning

John Bercow: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs how many notifications the Environment Agency has received from (a) Buckinghamshire county council and (b) Aylesbury Vale district council under the requirements of the Town and Country Planning (General Development Procedure) Order 1995.

Michael Meacher: The Environment Agency received 23 and 62 planning applications from Buckinghamshire county council in 2001 and 2002 respectively under the requirements of the Town and Country Planning (General Development Procedure) Order 1995. In the same period, the Agency received 167 and 143 applications under the same Order from Aylesbury Vale district council.

Pollution (Buckinghamshire)

John Bercow: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs how many complaints have been received since 6 February 2002 by the Environment Agency concerning pollution in the Buckinghamshire constituency.

Michael Meacher: The total number of complaints about pollution received during this period was 374. Of these, the Agency confirmed that 368 related to pollution incidents. This comprised of three category one (major) incidents, 11 category two (significant) incidents, 302 category three (minor) incidents, 52 Category four (no impact) incidents.

Product Designation

Hugh Robertson: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs 
	(1)  how many British fruit and vegetable products are registered for Protected Designation of Origin and Protected Geographical Indication schemes;
	(2)  what steps her Department is taking to encourage British products to register for Protected Designation of Origin and Protected Geographical Indication status.

Elliot Morley: holding answer 8 April 2003
	One British vegetable product, the Jersey Royal potato, has been registered as a Protected Designation of Origin. The UK currently has 33 products registered in total. As part of our Strategy for Sustainable Farming and Food which seeks to help our food and drink producers add value we want to encourage more applications and raise awareness about the schemes. Officials have written to trade associations and individual producers about the schemes and have had a number of meetings with potential applicants and retailers. My colleague Lord Whitty has promoted the schemes with producers at a media event in January, while the Defra stand at the International Food and Drink Exhibition in March was devoted to publicising these schemes. We will be working with Food From Britain and the Regional Food Groups over the coming months to continue to encourage applications and raise the profile of the schemes amongst consumers.

Slaughter Payments Scheme

Norman Lamb: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what steps she is taking to ensure that all payments due under the Slaughter Payments Scheme in respect of 2001 are cleared and that all disputes over such payments are settled.

Alun Michael: Under the EC legislation 1 governing the bovine schemes, to be eligible for such aid payments cattle have to be properly identified and registered in accordance with Regulation (EC) No 1760/2000. This requires keepers to notify all movements (and dates of movement) to and from their holding within a fixed period of time. The Rural Payments Agency is required by EC legislation 2 to carry out cross-checks to the cattle tracing database to ensure Community aid is granted only for bovine animals for which the births, movements and deaths have been duly notified.
	Cross-check failures due to missing movements are divided into various categories. Most categories are reviewed by the Agency at the office dealing with the claim. A final category is considered by a Review Panel comprising representatives from the Rural Payments Agency and the National Farmers Union. Industry representatives on the Panel give assurance of a fair review. Agency staff are striving to complete the review so that aid payments can be finalised for eligible animals.
	For the 2001 English Adult Animal Slaughter Premium Scheme, 98.2 per cent. of claims have been authorised for payment. 97.4 per cent. of claims have had balance payments made. The claims still undergoing processing are largely those that failed cross-checks required to confirm eligibility to Community aid.
	1 Article 21 of Council Regulation (EC) No 1254/1999
	2 Article 6(2)(b) of Commission Regulation (EEC) No 3887/92

Statutory Instruments

John Bercow: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs if she will list the statutory instruments issued by her Department in the last 12 months, indicating (a) the purpose of each and (b) the cost of each to (i) public funds, (ii) businesses and (iii) individuals.

Alun Michael: During the period 1 April 2002 and 31 March 2003 Defra issued 152 statutory instruments. All published statutory instruments are available on the HMSO website at http://www.legislation.hmso.qov.uk/stat.htm.
	Detailed information regarding purpose and costing on these instruments could be provided only at disproportionate cost, but details of Regulatory Impact Assessments (RIAs) relating to statutory instruments can be found at the Cabinet office website at: http://www.cabinet-office.gov.uk/regulation/scrutiny.
	Copies of RIAs are also placed in the Libraries of the House on the day the instrument is laid.

Tallow

Andrew George: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs pursuant to her answer of 16 January 2003, Official Report, column 742W, on tallow, if the contract with Ulster Farm By Products forms part of the current tender exercise for the incineration of tallow arising from carcasses culled under the over-30-month scheme.

Alun Michael: The contract, under which the company is already purchasing over-30-month scheme tallow as it is produced, does not form part of the current tender for the sale of stored tallow from the scheme.

Tallow

Andrew George: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs pursuant to her answer of 16 January 2003, Official Report, column 742W, on tallow, what the end dates are for each of the contracts awarded for the incineration of tallow arising from carcasses culled under the over-30-month scheme; and what the annual tonnage is under each of those contracts.

Alun Michael: The contracts for the purchase of over-30-months scheme tallow listed in my earlier reply are open-ended, on a 'take and pay' basis, with no volumes guaranteed.

ADVOCATE-GENERAL

EU Directives

John Bercow: To ask the Advocate General if she will list the EU Directives and Regulations which have been implemented by her Department since 17 April 2002.

Lynda Clark: I refer the hon. Member to the answer given today, c.227W, by my right hon. Friend the Secretary of State for Scotland.

SCOTLAND

Crown Estate

Alistair Carmichael: To ask the Secretary of State for Scotland pursuant to the answer from the Chief Secretary to the Treasury, column 560W, on the Crown Estate, when a Minister from the Scotland Office last met Crown Estate representatives; and what issues were discussed.

Helen Liddell: Ministers have meetings with a wide range of organisations and individuals. As with previous Administrations, it is not this Government's practice to provide details of all such meetings.

EU Directives

John Bercow: To ask the Secretary of State for Scotland if she will list the EU Directives and Regulations which have been implemented by her Department since 17April 2002.

Helen Liddell: No EU Directives or Regulations have been implemented by my Department since 17 April 2002.

Ministerial Meetings

John Thurso: To ask the Secretary of State for Scotland how many times she has met the chairman of (a) British Trade International and (b) Scottish Development International in each of the last five years; and when her last meeting was.

Helen Liddell: I have regular contact with the Minister of State for Trade and Investment, who chairs British Trade International, and with the Scottish Minister responsible for Scottish Trade International. Scottish Trade International does not have an appointed chairman.

Salmon Farming

Alistair Carmichael: To ask the Secretary of State for Scotland pursuant to the answer of 31 March 2003, Official Report, column 560W, on the Crown Estate, what assessment has been made of the impact on the commercial environment faced by UK salmon farmers if EU protection on salmon dumping is removed; and what plans she has to use her powers under the Crown Estate Act 1961 if the commercial environment faced by salmon farmers alters.

Helen Liddell: The Government regularly monitor the performance and the factors affecting the performance of all important industries.
	Neither my right hon. Friend the Chancellor of the Exchequer nor I have any plans to exercise the powers in question.

SOLICITOR-GENERAL

Lenient Sentences

Ian Davidson: To ask the Solicitor-General how many cases were referred to the Court of Appeal in 2002 on the grounds that the sentence was unduly lenient; if she will list the offences, broken down by type of offence; how many referrals there were, expressed as a percentage of cases dealt with for each crime; and if she will make a statement.

Harriet Harman: holding answer 1 April 2003
	In 2002 the Attorney-General and I referred a total of 112 cases (with a total of 149 offenders) to the Court of Appeal as unduly lenient sentences.
	The following table lists offences referred to the Court of Appeal. These figures represent only one lead offence per case.
	The Crown Prosecution Service do not keep records broken down by type of offence and it is not therefore possible to represent the number of referrals to the Court of Appeal as a percentage of the cases dealt with for each crime.
	
		
			 Offence category Number of cases in each offence category referred to the Court of Appeal by the Law Officers 
		
		
			 Abduction 1 
			 ABH 1 
			 Affray and threats to kill 1 
			 Aggravated burglary 6 
			 Arson 2 
			 Assault with intent to rob 1 
			 Attempt to pervert the course of justice 1 
			 Attempt murder 2 
			 Attempt rape, indecent assault 1 
			 Attempt robbery 1 
			 Blackmail 1 
			 Buggery 1 
			 Burglary 2 
			 Conspiracy to defraud 3 
			 Conspiracy to possess firearms 1 
			 Conspiracy to rob 1 
			 Conspiracy to steal 1 
			 Death by dangerous driving 8 
			 Drugs offences 13 
			 Forgery and perverting the course of justice 1 
			 GBH with intent 4 
			 Indecent assault 11 
			 Kidnap, false imprisonment 1 
			 Manslaughter 8 
			 Murder 1 
			 Firearms offences 4 
			 Possession of explosives 1 
			 Rape 3 
			 Robbery 18 
			 Section 18 offences 3 
			 Section 20 1 
			 Theft 3 
			 Unlawful sexual intercourse 1 
			 Wounding with intent 4

HOME DEPARTMENT

311 Number

Oliver Letwin: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what progress he has made towards the creation of a 311 number for the reporting of public order and vandalism-related incidents other than emergencies.

Bob Ainsworth: holding answer 7 March 2003
	Following a feasibility study into the provision of a dedicated national number for contacting the police on non-emergency matters, we have decided to take this work forward within the wider context of establishing national call-handling standards for the police service. This will focus not only on call routing, but more importantly on call resolution. The development of a Single Non-Emergency Number will form an important strand of this work.
	A shared non-emergency number concept demonstrator to be tested in three connecting force areas is currently being planned.

Asylum Seekers

Ian Liddell-Grainger: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what help is given to district councils to help with housing asylum seekers placed in their areas.

Beverley Hughes: The National Asylum Support Service (NASS) has entered into contracts with the private and public sector to provide accommodation for destitute asylum seekers. Only local authorities contracted to NASS would be asked to provide accommodation for asylum seekers placed in their areas. Other district councils would not be required to provide accommodation for asylum seekers.

Asylum Seekers

Ian Liddell-Grainger: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what the length of contract is with Clearsprings Ltd to house asylum seekers.

Beverley Hughes: The contract between the National Asylum Support Service and Clearsprings Ltd began on 3 April 2000 and runs for five years.

Asylum Seekers

Ian Liddell-Grainger: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what guidance the Home Office gives to companies that are looking to place asylum seekers in rural areas.

Beverley Hughes: Destitute asylum seekers requiring accommodation are dispersed to designated dispersal areas. The National Asylum Support Service (NASS) identified areas suitable for designation as a dispersal area. Private and public sector companies under contract to NASS to provide accommodation for asylum seekers are told which areas have been designated for dispersal and that accommodation must be located within the defined areas.

Asylum Support Fraud

Oliver Heald: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department pursuant to his answer of 18 March, Official Report, column 698W, on asylum support fraud, if he will make a statement on the level of (a) fraud and (b) overpayment in respect of payments to (i) private sector contractors and (ii) public sector contractors for accommodation provided by the National Asylum Support Service in each year since its establishment.

Beverley Hughes: holding answer 3 April 2003
	I refer the hon. Member to the answer I gave my hon. Friend the Member for Birmingham, Selly Oak, on 3 April 2003, Official Report, column 869W. The National Asylum Support Service (NASS) has no evidence of fraud on the part of its contracted accommodation providers. Any overpayments have been of a technical nature and the system is designed to correct any technical overpayments in subsequent months.

British Crime Survey

Simon Hughes: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department whether data from the British Crime Survey can be broken down by police force area; and if he will make a statement.

Peter Ainsworth: Since the British Crime Survey moved to an annual cycle in 2001–02 the target sample size has increased to approximately 40,000 interviews a year. The larger sample size has resulted in the ability, for the first time, to analyse questions that are asked of the whole sample by police force area (subject to the statistical robustness of individual measures) and in particular has enabled better monitoring of performance indicators.
	The most recent published data for best value performance indicators 120 (risk of victimisation), 121 (fear of crime) and 122 (feelings of public safety) broken down by police for area (PFA) can be found in 'Crime in England and Wales 2001–02 Home Office statistical bulletin 07/02'. The most recent findings available by PFA for public confidence in the criminal justice system and ratings of the police have been published in 'Crime in England and Wales 2001–02: supplementary volume Home Office statistical bulletin 01/03'. A number of the indicators mentioned above were also published in the police performance monitoring 2001–02 publication. Copies of these publications can be found in the Library.

Chief Constables

Lindsay Hoyle: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what guidance he gives to chief constables on meeting hon. Members on constituency matters.

Bob Ainsworth: The Secretary of State has issued no guidance to chief officers on meeting hon. Members. This is ultimately a matter for the chief officers themselves.
	However, the Secretary of State would normally expect a chief constable to extend every courtesy on issues affecting the welfare of an hon. Member's constituency and in a manner appropriate to the issue at hand.

Command Paper 5778

Paul Burstow: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many dysfunctional families his Department has identified in each of the last five years as set out in paragraph 209 of Command Paper 5778.

Hilary Benn: Information on the number of dysfunctional families is not held centrally.

Correspondence

Gerald Kaufman: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department when he intends to reply to the letter to him dated 24 February from the right hon. Member for Manchester, Gorton with regard to Mr.Lawrence Wendel Gordon.

David Blunkett: I wrote to my right hon. Friend on 7 April 2003.

Correspondence

Gerald Kaufman: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department when he intends to reply to the letter to him dated 25 February from the right hon. Member for Manchester, Gorton with regard to Ms Ismail Hussein.

David Blunkett: I wrote to my right hon. Friend on 7 April 2003.

Correspondence

Gerald Kaufman: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department when he intends to reply to the letter dated 24 February, from the right hon. Member for Manchester, Gorton with regard to Mr. Abdul Rahman Silavipour.

David Blunkett: I wrote to my right hon. Friend on 8 April 2003.

Correspondence

Gerald Kaufman: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department when he intends to reply to the letter from the right hon. Member for Manchester, Gorton with regard to Mr. Patrick Stanley.

David Blunkett: I wrote to my right hon. Friend on 9 April 2003,

Heart Transplants

Norman Baker: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department whether (a) the project licence application to perform heart xenotransplantation experiments submitted in 1998 and (b) the project licence application to perform pig-to-primate kidney xenotransplantation submitted in 1999 were personally authorised by Ministers at his Department.

Bob Ainsworth: Home Office records show that the grant of the relevant licence authority to perform pig to primate heart transplantation research was authorised at ministerial level. The licence authority to perform pig to primate kidney transplantation research was granted administratively, by Home Office officials, without reference to Ministers.

Probation Service

Ian Liddell-Grainger: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how the closure of the West Somerset magistrates court will change the role of probation offices in West Somerset.

Hilary Benn: The Avon and Somerset Magistrates' Courts Committee has no current plans to close West Somerset Magistrates' Court. However, the role of probation officers would not change due to the closure of any magistrates' court. Probation officers would continue to provide services to courts wherever they were located and would continue to supervise offenders.

Road Traffic Offences

Nick Hawkins: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many speeding offences, detected by speed cameras, resulted in (a) court action, (b) the issue of a fixed penalty notice during 2002 and (c) neither of these penalties; and if he will make a statement.

Bob Ainsworth: holding answer 8 April 2003
	Data on the number of speeding offences detected by camera in England and Wales for 2001 (latest available) are given in the table. 2002 data will be available in the autumn.
	
		Prosecutions, fixed penalties and written warnings for speeding offences detected by camera, England and Wales, 2001
		
			  Number 
		
		
			  
			  
			 Prosecutions 137,100 
			 Fixed penalty(16) 877,500 
			 Written warning(17) n/a 
		
	
	n/a = Not available
	(16) Paid, i.e. no further action.
	(17) Data collected centrally from forces on written warnings given for speeding offences detected by camera not given as considered unreliable. A total of 17,300 written warnings for all speed limit offences were issued in 2001.

Sessional Orders

Andrew MacKinlay: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what assessment he has made of the performance of the Commissioner of the Police of the Metropolis in enforcing the terms of the Sessional Order of 13 November 2002.

Bob Ainsworth: holding answer 8 April 2003
	I understand from the Commissioner that the Metropolitan Police Service is extremely aware of the necessity to enforce the requirements of the Sessional Order. All pre-planned demonstrations take into consideration the Sessional Order during the planning process and subsequent implementation of the plan. Where impromptu demonstrations occur all possible steps are taken to ensure that the Sessional Order is maintained. On the limited number of occasions, when access to Parliament has not been available through the Carriage Gates, access was restored as quickly as possible.

Staff Numbers

John Bercow: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many staff are employed by his Department.

Hilary Benn: I refer the hon. Member to the reply given to him by my hon. Friend the Minister of State, Cabinet Office on 4 April 2003, Official Report, column 891W, which details the available published information across the civil service.

WALES

Badgers

Nigel Waterson: To ask the Secretary of State for Wales what recent estimate he has made of how many badgers there are in Wales; and if he will make a statement.

Peter Hain: None.

Departmental Annual Report

John Bercow: To ask the Secretary of State for Wales when the annual report of his Department will be published.

Peter Hain: I expect the Departmental Report to be published by mid-May.

Departmental Catering Services

John Bercow: To ask the Secretary of State for Wales what the cost was of (a) the in-house canteen and (b) other catering services provided by the Department in 2002.

Peter Hain: My Department has no canteen. The only items which it provides are light refreshments (tea, coffee, soft drinks, biscuits) for meetings and chilled water for staff.

Departmental Expenditure

John Bercow: To ask the Secretary of State for Wales what his estimate is of the expenditure of his Department on newspapers, magazines and periodicals in 2002.

Peter Hain: I refer the hon. Member to the answer I gave him on 23 January 2003, Official Report, column 433W.

Departmental Pay

John Bercow: To ask the Secretary of State for Wales what progress has been made with the pay review in his Department, with particular reference to the gender pay gap; and if he will make a statement.

Peter Hain: Staff serving in my Department are all on secondment or loan from other Departments—predominantly from the National Assembly for Wales. Their pay is therefore set by their home Departments rather than by the Wales Office.
	For its staff (including those seconded or loaned to the Wales Office) the National Assembly for Wales introduced a new pay system in 2001 aimed at closing the gender pay gap.

Departmental Website

Tim Yeo: To ask the Secretary of State for Wales if he will make a statement on the (a) cost of and (b) number of visitors to each website operated by his Department is responsible in each year since its establishment.

Peter Hain: The total operating cost—including the start up cost which cannot be separately identified—of the Wales Office website between 1 April 1998 and 1 July 1999 was £7,867.
	The Wales Office was not charged for the running of its website between 1 July 1999 and 1 September 2000.
	The operating cost of running the website—including the development of bilingual content—between 1 September 2000 and 31 August 2001 was £5,699.
	For the period between 1 September 2001 and 31 August 2002 the Wales Office was invoiced £1,600.
	The Wales Office was also invoiced £1,600 for running of the website over the period between 1 September 2002 and 31 August 2003.
	Unfortunately hits for the Welsh Office website between 1 April 1998 and 1 July 1999 are no longer available. Due to a technical fault at our service providers, we are also unable to provide hits for the Wales Office website from 1999–2000.
	In 2001, the Wales Office website received 291,212 hits and 142,966 page impressions.
	In 2002, the Wales Office website received 527,536 hits and 269,627 page impressions.
	So far in this year, for the period 1 January 2003 to 31 March 2003, the Wales Office website has received 166,473 hits and 85,499 page impressions.

Document Classification

Harry Cohen: To ask the Secretary of State for Wales how many documents are held by his Department that are subject to security classification, broken down by category of classification.

Peter Hain: This information is not readily available and could be obtained only at disproportionate cost.

Entertainment Costs

James Gray: To ask the Secretary of State for Wales when he has entertained Labour hon. Members at public expense in the last 12 months; and at what cost.

Peter Hain: In the last 12 months my predecessor and I hosted three receptions for parliamentarians—from all parties—Peers and others. The total cost of these was about £3,000.

Joint Ministerial Committees

Win Griffiths: To ask the Secretary of State for Wales how often each joint ministerial committee has met since April 2001.

Peter Hain: Since April 2001 the plenary Joint Ministerial Committee (JMC) has met twice; JMC (Europe) has met six times; JMC (Health) has met once; and JMC (Poverty) has met once.

Market Research

John Bercow: To ask the Secretary of State for Wales what expenditure has been incurred by his (a) Department, (b) agencies and (c) non-departmental bodies in 2002 on (i) opinion polling, (ii) focus groups and (iii) other forms of market research; and if he will list the surveys commissioned and the purpose of each.

Peter Hain: None.

Market Testing

John Bercow: To ask the Secretary of State for Wales what the estimated level of saving is to the Department from the use of market testing in 2002–03.

Peter Hain: No market testing was conducted in this year. Some support services are already provided to the Wales Office by the private sector and thus subject to regular competitive tendering; the Department is not responsible for any significant programme expenditure.

Ministerial Transport

John Bercow: To ask the Secretary of State for Wales what the cost of (a) ministerial cars and drivers and (b) taxis for his Department was in 2002.

Peter Hain: The information is as follows:
	(a) This will be addressed in a letter from Mr. Nick Matheson, Chief Executive of the Government Car and Despatch Agency, to the hon. Member.
	(b) £4,000. This figure excludes any amounts spent on taxis, black cabs and licensed hackney carriages outside of departmental contracts and reclaimed by officials as travel and subsistence expenditure. That information could be obtained only at disproportionate cost.

National Insurance

John Bercow: To ask the Secretary of State for Wales what the cost will be to public funds in 2003–04 of the rise in national insurance contributions on the salary bill of his Department.

Peter Hain: It is estimated that the changes to employers' national insurance contributions announced in the Budget will increase pay costs on average by 0.7 per cent. next year.

Property Portfolio

John Bercow: To ask the Secretary of State for Wales what the estimated value is of the property portfolio held by his Department.

Peter Hain: My Department's property portfolio has an estimated value of £1.7 million.

Secondments

Vincent Cable: To ask the Secretary of State for Wales how many individuals have been seconded to his Department from (a) the private sector, (b) NGOs and (c) other, in each case listing (i) from which organisation and (ii) dates of secondments, in each year since 1999–2000.

Peter Hain: Since its creation in July 1999, my Department has recruited no civil servants itself but has been entirely staffed by people on loan or secondment from other organisations. These have been predominantly from the National Assembly for Wales but some staff have come from other Government departments and there has been one secondment from a local authority.

Staff Numbers

John Bercow: To ask the Secretary of State for Wales how many staff were employed by his Department in (a) 2001–02 and (b) 2002–03.

Peter Hain: The Department's Resource Accounts (HC 318) show the average number of whole-time equivalent persons employed (including senior management, Ministers, and special advisers) to have been 42 during 2001–02. The Department's Resource Accounts will be published later this year, from which a comparative figure for 2002–03 will be available.

Sunset Clauses

John Bercow: To ask the Secretary of State for Wales if he will list the sunset clauses included in legislation from his Department since 1997.

Peter Hain: Since 1997 no legislation from my Department has included clauses providing for its expiry after a defined period.

Terrorism

Nigel Evans: To ask the Secretary of State for Wales what meetings he has had regarding preparation for a possible terrorist strike in Wales.

Peter Hain: The prevention of terrorism is primarily a matter for my right hon. Friend the Home Secretary.
	The Wales Office attends both ministerial and official level meetings of the civil contingencies committee which co-ordinates the response to major disruptions to ordinary life.

Travel Costs

John Bercow: To ask the Secretary of State for Wales what the cost was of travel by train by staff in his Department in 2002.

Peter Hain: In the financial year 2002–03 to date some £101,000 has been spent on rail travel. The hon. Member will appreciate that my staff are based in both Cardiff and London.

Wales Office (Civil Servants)

John Thurso: To ask the Secretary of State for Wales how many civil servants are employed by the Wales Office at (a) senior civil service level and (b) middle management level; and what the job description is for each of these posts.

Peter Hain: Details of the Wales Office organisation and objectives are given annually in its departmental reports, the most recent of which is Cm 5431 published in June 2002.
	This shows (page 23) that one senior civil servant was in post at 31 March 2002 along with 26 people in the Executive Officer/Higher Executive Officer/Senior Executive Officer/Grade 7 grades. These posts are predominantly concerned with policy-related work, in particular the briefing of Wales Office Ministers.

CABINET OFFICE

Equal Pay

Sandra Gidley: To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office pursuant to the answer of 25 March 2003, Official Report, column 142W, which civil service Departments and agencies have completed pay reviews to close equal pay gaps for 2002–03.

Douglas Alexander: As at the 8 April, 25 Departments and agencies reported completion of their equal pay reviews. Of these organisations, the following six have submitted final action plans to the Cabinet Office:
	Organisation
	Driver and Vehicle Licensing Agency
	Veterinary Laboratories Agency
	Government Actuary's Department
	Northern Ireland Court Service
	Oftel
	Insolvency Service

EDUCATION AND SKILLS

Children's Centres

Caroline Flint: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills if he will estimate the impact of extending the Government's children's centres to cover 30 per cent. of the most disadvantaged wards in England by 2006.

Maria Eagle: The Government's long-term aim is that all young children living in the 20 per cent. most disadvantaged wards have access to children's centre services. These centres will promote the physical, intellectual and social development of young children; they will also help to reduce child poverty by enabling parents, including lone parents, to maximise their chances to work, and to build stronger, safer communities. By March 2006 we plan to reach at least 650,000 pre-school children—and to create nearly 43,000 extra child care places for them. We recognise that pockets of extreme disadvantage exist outside of these wards, and the Sure Start Unit will consider proposals from local authorities to locate children's centres in such areas.
	In the long-term, providing access to children's centre services will reach approximately one million children under five in the 20 per cent. most disadvantaged wards. Extending this provision to cover the 30 per cent. most disadvantaged wards would reach approximately 340,000 additional children. We recognise that all young children would benefit from children's centre services, and the Sure Start Unit is promoting the wider adoption of this integrated approach. However the £435 million available to meet our targets by 2006 is focused on areas where need is greatest.

Emergency Grant Criteria

Andrew Selous: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills what the eligibility criteria were for the £28 million emergency grant to 36 local authorities announced in the week of the 24 March.

David Miliband: I refer the hon. Gentleman to my written statement of 26 March 2003, Official Report, column 15WS.

Class Sizes

John Bercow: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills if he will make a statement on average class sizes in secondary schools in Buckinghamshire LEA in (a) 2001–02 and (b) 2002–03.

Stephen Twigg: Provisional data for 2003 are not yet available. Therefore, information for the two most recent years is shown in the table.
	
		Maintained secondary schools(18) in Buckinghamshire LEA: Average size of one teacher classes(19)
		
			 Position in January each year Average class size 
		
		
			 2001 21.6 
			 2002 22.1 
		
	
	(18) Includes middle schools as deemed.
	(19) Classes as taught during the one selected period in each school on the day of the census in January.
	Source:
	Annual Schools Census

Departmental Catering Services

John Bercow: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills what the cost was of (a) the in-house canteen and (b) other catering services provided by the Department in 2002.

Stephen Twigg: My Department's cost for (a) in-house canteen and (b) other catering services for the year 2002 is as follows:
	
		
			  £ 
		
		
			 In-house  
			 2001–02 99,794 
			   
			 Other catering services  
			 2001–02 220,913 
		
	
	Note:
	The cost for In-house catering includes contract costs only

Education Funding

Ivan Henderson: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills how much additional funding has been given to (a) primary schools and (b) secondary schools in the Harwich constituency in addition to their SSA, since 1997.

David Miliband: It is not possible to identify precisely how much additional funding has been given to Harwich schools since 1997. The following table shows how much recurrent and capital funding was allocated to Essex primary and secondary schools between 1998–99 and 2002–03, the years for which data are available on a like-for-like basis. The Department allocates capital funding for schools at local education authority level (LEA) level, without specifying separate amounts for primary and secondary schools.
	This is equivalent in 2002–03 to an average of £82,377 revenue for a primary school and £306,329 revenue for a secondary school, but funding for individual schools depends on decisions taken by the local education authority.
	
		Revenue and Capital Grant—Primary and Secondary -- £ million
		
			  1998–99 2002–03 Cash change 
		
		
			 Total Revenue Grant (Primary) 2.4 40.2 +37.8 
			 Total Revenue Grant (Secondary) 1.6 24.2 +22.6 
			 Total Capital Grant (Primary and Secondary) 13.8 74.6 +60.8 
		
	
	Note:
	1. Figures reflect all revenue and capital grants in DfES's Departmental Expenditure Limits relevant to primary and secondary pupils (excluding EMA and a handful of others where it is not possible to get figures on a comparable basis over time).
	2. Grants relevant to more than one sector have been notionally split (on a very rough ratio 60:40 primary:secondary)
	3. Figures are rounded to the nearest 0.1m.

Education Funding

Jeff Ennis: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills what the spending per head on pupils in (a) Barnsley and (b) Doncaster was in each year since 1992.

David Miliband: The information requested is contained in the following table:
	
		Barnsley LEA and Doncaster LEA—Average expenditure per pupil
		
			  Barnsley Doncaster 
			  Pre- primary and primary Secondary Pre-primary, primary and secondary Pre-primary and primary Secondary Pre- primary, primary and secondary 
		
		
			 1992–93 2,340 3,340 2,720 2,310 3,490 2,820 
			 1993–94 2,290 3,220 2,650 2,270 3,200 2,680 
			 1994–95 2,210 3,180 2,590 2,360 3,130 2,710 
			 1995–96 2,100 2,800 2,370 2,180 2,880 2,480 
			 1996–97 2,070 2,700 2,310 2,200 3,010 2,530 
			 1997–98 2,030 2,760 2,310 2,250 2,950 2,530 
			 1998–99 2,150 2,750 2,380 2,230 2,940 2,510 
			 1999–2000 2,410 2,870 2,590 2,380 3,000 2,640 
			 2000–01 2,570 3,040 2,760 2,460 3,270 2,810 
			 2001–02 2,800 3,220 2,970 2,720 3,540 3,080 
		
	
	Notes:
	1. Net Current Expenditure (NCE) includes expenditure within schools and also that incurred centrally by LEAs.
	2. Real Terms figures are adjusted to 2001–02 prices using the March 2003 GDP deflators.
	3. Pre-primary, primary and secondary column contains the per pupil costs across all three phases of education. The figure is not a 'sum' but a weighted average of the previous two columns figures.
	4. Figures rounded to the nearest 10.
	5. 'SEN Schools' expenditure not included because it distorts the unit costs and can make meaningful comparison difficult.
	6. Financial data are drawn from the RO1 forms up to 1998–99 and from the DfES Section 52 outturn statements from 1999–2000.
	7. Pupil data are drawn from the Annual Schools Census adjusted to be on a financial year basis.

Exhibitions

Tim Yeo: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills if he will list events at which his Department and each agency and non-departmental public body for which his Department is responsible have exhibited in each of the last three years, stating for each (a) the purpose of exhibiting, (b) the cost of exhibiting and (c) the number of staff attending for the exhibition.

Stephen Twigg: The Department organises a large number of events for different target audiences and purposes each year, ranging from small scale workshops to introduce practitioners to new procedures or initiatives, to larger scale events to promote policy initiatives or present the bigger picture of the Department's activities to external partners and opinion formers.
	Examples of these during the past three years range from a series of small local events to disseminate good practice in meeting the skills needs of employers, to major events such as the Education Show.
	Records of all such events sponsored by the Department are not held centrally and the information could be provided only at disproportionate cost.

Health Education

Liam Fox: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills how much his Department spent on (a) health and (b) diabetes educational materials for schools in each year since 1997.

David Miliband: The Department does not keep a central record of expenditure on educational materials. We support a variety of programmes and initiatives to enhance education about health and healthy living. For example, with the Department of Health we have jointly funded the National Healthy Schools programme, providing £27 million since it began in 1999. We have also produced a number of good practice booklets for teachers to help them ensure the health of pupils; for example, on healthy school lunches, first aid and health and safety. The Department has not produced education materials specifically about diabetes.

Investors in People

David Drew: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills what assessment he has made of the relationship between schools having Investors in People status and educational achievement; and if he will make a statement.

Stephen Twigg: There is good evidence that Investors in People supports school improvement. An NFER study in June 2000 found a clear positive link between achievement of the standard and Ofsted's assessment of teaching quality. For this reason, Investors enjoys the support of key national partners, including Ofsted. The great majority of schools which have achieved the standard say that it has directly contributed to raising pupil achievement, through a more focused approach to training and development. This view seems to be shared by schools of all shapes and sizes.

Iraq (Military Action)

Paul Marsden: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills what guidance he has given to schools in Shropshire in terms of the military action in Iraq and (a) racist incidents, (b) emotional support from teachers to pupils, (c) teachers' responses to questions by pupils, (d) how the citizenship curriculum covers the conditional legal issues of war and (e) how teachers are expected to assist children with armed forces personnel relatives.

Stephen Twigg: My Department has not given any specific guidance to schools about military action in Iraq because advice is already available to them through a range of relevant material from the Department, the Service Children's Education Agency (SCE), and the Qualifications and Curriculum Authority. Advice on dealing with racist incidents can be found in the updated pack "Bullying—don't suffer in silence" (first issued in December 2001) and at www.qca.org.uk/ca/inclusion/respect for all/. Citizenship coverage of issues surrounding war can be found at www.standards.dfes.gov.uk/schemes2/citizenship/cit117. The SCE provides advice to forces personnel on education issues and has recently issued a deployment pack to local education authorities in areas, including Shropshire, where there are likely to be numbers of children from service families.

Private Finance Initiative

David Drew: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills if he will list the successful capital bids under the Private Finance Initiative; and if he will explain the rationale behind the decisions on successful bids.

David Miliband: holding answer 4 April 2003
	I refer my hon. Friend to the Departmental Press Notice 2003/0055 issued on 31 March 2003, which set out those LEAs prioritised for support. These projects were prioritised against the criteria issued to all LEAs in September 2002, a copy of which is available via www.teachernet.gov.uk.

Private Finance Initiative

David Drew: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills what plans he has to hold a further round of bids for PFI Capital expenditure for (a) rebuilding and (b) redeveloping schools.

David Miliband: I announced in a written statement on 26 February proposals for a new approach to capital investment in school buildings from 2005–06, including the use of private finance initiative (PFI) credits. The document '"Building Schools for the Future" gives further details of these proposals, which are the subject of a consultation until 31 May.
	The Government commit themselves in "Building Schools for the Future" to a programme of rebuilding and renewal to ensure that secondary education in every part of England has facilities of 21st-Century standard. The aim of this programme will be to deliver this goal successfully for every secondary pupil within 10 to 15 years from 2005–06, subject to public spending decisions. We propose to allocate PFI credits from 2005–06 as part of this wider, strategic targeting of groups of schools. I also announced on 31 March, as part of the allocation of PFI credits for 2004–05, four Building Schools for the Future pathfinder projects in Bradford, Bristol, Greenwich and Sheffield—worth £290 million in total. These will test new procurement and delivery methods.

School Governors

Graham Brady: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills if he will list the Ministers in his Department who are governors of maintained schools, giving the name of the school in each case.

David Miliband: The Under-Secretary, my hon. Friend the Minister for Enfield, Southgate (Mr. Twigg), is a governor at two schools in Enfield: Merryhills Primary School and Southgate Secondary School.
	My hon. Friend Baroness Ashton, my hon. Friend the Minister for Barking (Margaret Hodge), my hon. Friend the Minister for Bury, South (Mr. Lewis) and myself have served as school governors in the past.

School Places

Ann Keen: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills how many children there are in London who have moved borough and are without a school place.

David Miliband: My Department collects information on the number of children who leave school and take up places with other authorities. As a consequence of collecting the data, the number of children who leave education within an authority, and do not take up a place elsewhere, are known. What is not known, however, is whether these children have applied for a place in London and been unsuccessful.
	In terms of ensuring sufficient school places are available, it is for each local education authority to plan and keep under review the supply of school places so as to ensure there is sufficient provision to meet demand.

School Standards

Damian Green: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills what the cost is to each local education authority of Raising Standards and Tackling Workload: a National Agreement, announced on 15 January 2003, in the (a) financial year 2003–04 and (b) school year 2003–04.

David Miliband: The costs will vary from school to school, depending on how much progress they have already made on the various elements of work force reform. The phasing of the contractual changes means that the more radical provisions do not come into force until September 2005.
	In 2003–04, revenue funding for LEAs will increase by 11.6 per cent. on average. This is greater than additional pressures, including those imposed by the Workforce Agreement.

Specialist Schools

Tim Yeo: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills how many specialist schools there are in (a) Lancashire and (b) England.

David Miliband: There are currently 26 designated specialist schools in Lancashire. Three of these will not begin operating until September 2003.
	There are currently 1,209 designated specialist schools in England. 217 of these will not begin operating until September 2003.

Specialist Schools

Tim Yeo: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills what plans he has to increase the number of specialist schools.

David Miliband: Specialist schools are a key driver of the Government's plans to raise standards in the secondary education sector, as set out in the secondary strategy document, "A New Specialist System" (published in February 2003). There are currently 992 specialist schools and at least a further 217 will be in operation from September this year. We have a target of at least 2,000 specialist schools by September 2006.
	We want all secondary schools that are ready to join the programme to apply, and in the long-term we hope that all secondary schools will be specialist schools. We will, of course, continue to be rigorous in maintaining the standards of the programme, and will de-designate schools which fail to make the progress required of them.
	In November 2002, the Government lifted the cap on national funding for the programme so that any school which meets the required standard in its application can now become a specialist school.

Teachers

Stephen Hepburn: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills what procedures are in place to deal with teachers whose teaching performance is unsatisfactory.

David Miliband: Schools must have capability procedures for dealing with teachers whose performance is unsatisfactory and fails to improve. Capability procedures are drawn up locally by schools and LEAs. The Secretary of State issues guidance on teacher capability to ensure that these matters are handled effectively and fairly, and will be consulting on new guidance shortly.

Virtual Education Action Zone

John Bercow: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills what the cost implications are of the South of England Virtual Education Action Zone (Extension) Order.

David Miliband: The extension to the Zone's statutory life brought about by the Order makes it eligible for additional core grant from the Department of up to £1,100,000, and an additional matched funding grant from the Department of up to £500,000. The matched funding is payable on a pound-for-pound basis, dependent upon the amount of private sector business contributions that the Zone raises.

Websites

Tim Yeo: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills if he will make a statement on the (a) cost of and (b) number of visitors to each website operated by his Department and each agency and non-departmental public body for which his Department is responsible in each year since its establishment.

Stephen Twigg: Core programme cost, including hosting*, for the Department for Education and Skills central website www.dfes.gov.uk (real terms figures in 2002–03 prices) were as follows:
	
		
			  £ 
		
		
			 1997–98 44,280 
			 1998–99 86,305 
			 1999–2000 143,808 
			 2000–01 273,265 
			 2001–02 671,170 
			 2002–03 1,747,000 
		
	
	Site traffic figures for www.dfes.gov.uk are as follows:
	In the year to March 2003 the site received nearly 5.5 million visits and 76.3 page views.
	The only historic usage figures currently available are as follows:
	In the year to January 2001, we averaged 130,000 unique visitors per month with total annual page views of 43.7 million.
	In the year to January 2002, we averaged 175,000 unique visitors per month with total annual page views of 74.5 million.
	Figures for agencies and non-departmental public bodies are not included as collection of this information represents disproportionate costs.
	From 2002 this includes hosting costs for other online services provided by the Department.

DEFENCE

Afghanistan

Joan Ruddock: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence pursuant to his answer of 27 January, Official Report, column 34W, whether a decision has been taken on UK leadership of a Provincial Reconstruction Team in Afghanistan.

Adam Ingram: Ministers have recently confirmed that, in principle, the United Kingdom is interested in leading a Provincial Reconstruction Team but, as with any potential deployment, we must first complete the necessary preparatory planning work. This is in its final stages and, all being well, we hope to announce our decision to Parliament in the next few weeks.

Iraq

Llew Smith: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence if he will place in the Library the guidelines adopted for deciding which targets are chosen to attack in Iraq.

Geoff Hoon: The military campaign is crafted around the principle of minimum use of force. We attack only military objectives and combatants subject to the constraints of proportionality. If there is any expectation that harm will be caused to civilians, this must not be excessive when set against the direct and concrete military advantage anticipated from the attack. That approach folly reflects our obligations under international law.
	It is not our practice to publish the targeting guidelines, since to do so would provide the Iraqi regime and future potential enemies with information which might jeopardise the effectiveness of this and future military operations. I am therefore withholding the information requested in accordance with Exemption 1 (Defence, security and international relations) of the Code of Practice on Access to Government Information.

Iraq

Llew Smith: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence what the military objective is of attacking Iraqi television offices in the invasion of Iraq.

Geoff Hoon: Television offices and studios have not been the object of coalition attacks. The coalition has attacked, and reserves the right to continue to attack systems (such as transmitters) which are used by the regime for conveying military command and control information. Coalition attacks are designed to minimise damage to civilian infrastructure.

Iraq

Helen Jackson: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence if he will place in the Library the material circulated by coalition forces to the civilian population in Southern Iraq.

Lewis Moonie: holding answer 7 April 2003
	The coalition leaflets dropped from the air are available on the CENTCOM website. I will place an example in the Library of the House.

Iraq

Norman Baker: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence how many oil fields have been set alight in Iraq since 1st March; what estimate he has made of the (a) CO2 emissions and (b) barrels of oil lost; and how many remain alight.

Geoff Hoon: holding answer 4 April 2003
	Nine well heads were deliberately set alight in the Rumayla oil field in southern Iraq. Only two oil wells in Rumayla now remain alight and work continues to extinguish them. The rest have been put out.
	The Ministry of Defence has not made an assessment of the barrels of oil lost since 1 March or of the likely CO2 emissions. The Meteorological Office did, however, conduct a detailed analysis of the 610 oil wells set alight during the 1990–91 Gulf conflict. This includes an analysis of the fumes produced, which concluded that the CO2 produced had a negligible effect on the global climate.

Iraq

Harry Cohen: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence whether cables funnelling electricity to the Wafa al-Qaed water treatment plant were cut as a consequence of the US and British bombardment on Friday 21 March; what the purpose was of the bombardment; and if he will make a statement.

Adam Ingram: The electricity cables supplying the Wafa al-Qaed water treatment plant have not been targeted by United Kingdom forces. We have no reports to suggest that they were hit by any coalition air assets.

Iraq

Llew Smith: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence how many British servicemen and women have refused to serve in the invasion of Iraq, citing their objection to the conduct of the invasion by the coalition forces; and what action is being taken against them.

Bob Russell: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence if he will make a statement on the return of members of HM Armed Forces to the UK for refusing to participate in the war in Iraq.

Adam Ingram: holding answer 8 April 2003
	There are formal procedures to be followed by British Serviceman who have a conscientious objection to the duties they are asked to undertake. To date we are not aware of any personnel who were due to serve, or are serving, in the Gulf during OP TELIC who have initiated such procedures.

Iraq

Norman Baker: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence what measures are in place to deal with the environmental consequences arising from any setting alight of oil wells in Iraq.

Geoff Hoon: One of the key military tasks in the Government's Military Campaign Objectives was that of securing Iraq's economic infrastructure to prevent its wilful destruction by the Iraqi regime. The success of Coalition forces in securing the southern Iraqi oil infrastructure intact has prevented Saddam Hussein from repeating the acts of environmental vandalism on the scale we saw during 1991. Explosive Ordnance Disposal units and specialist teams of Royal Engineers from the United Kingdom armed forces have made safe facilities in the Rumaylah oil fields, enabling the relatively small number of fires, started before Coalition forces took control, to be extinguished.

Iraq

Andrew Rosindell: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence if he will make a statement on the system for distributing communications from Territorial Army soldiers deployed in Iraq to their dependants and families.

Lewis Moonie: Territorial Army (TA) personnel mobilised for operations in the Gulf are entitled to the same welfare allowances as Regular soldiers. Within the overall Operational Welfare Package there is a specific communications package to allow the soldiers in theatre to communicate with families and dependants at home. This is achieved through the use of welfare telephones and British Forces Post Office (BFPO) mail. Welfare telephones have been provided in theatre and each soldier is entitled, subject to operational constraints, to a 20 minute per week publicly funded allowance. Free BFPO letters, known as "Blueys" are available to all soldiers in theatre, with current delivery times ranging from between three to six days. Electronic versions, known as "E-Blueys" are also available. The chain of command passes information to families and dependants of soldiers deployed via unit rear parties or the appropriate TA regimental headquarters.

Iraq

Janet Anderson: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence what representations he has received about the postage costs incurred by families who send parcels to relatives and friends serving in Iraq.

Adam Ingram: A considerable number of representations have been received by Ministers and the Chief Executive of the British Forces Post Office, in the form of letters and telephone calls from hon. Members, and letters, e-mails and telephone calls from members of the public.

Macedonia

Richard Spring: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence how many British personnel are participating in the EUFOR as part of Operation Concordia in the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia.

Adam Ingram: Three British personnel are participating in EUFOR's Operation Concordia in the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia.
	The United Kingdom is also represented by the Director of Operations, EU Command Element in AFSouth, Naples, who is a double-hatted NATO officer.

Macedonia

Richard Spring: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence which countries' personnel are participating in the EUFOR as part of Operation Concordia in the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia; and how many personnel are involved.

Adam Ingram: The total complement for Operation Concordia in the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia is some 467 personnel. Countries contributing personnel are Austria; Belgium; Bulgaria; Czech Republic; Estonia; Finland; France; Germany; Greece; Hungary; Italy; Iceland; Latvia; Lithuania; Luxembourg; Netherlands; Norway; Poland; Portugal; Romania; Slovakia; Slovenia; Spain; Sweden; Turkey and the United Kingdom.

Reservists

Bill Wiggin: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence whether the facilities for contacting families and friends in the UK for reservists are the same as for regular armed forces serving in the Gulf.

Lewis Moonie: Yes. There is absolutely no distinction between members of the regular and reserve forces. Both have access to exactly the same welfare package which includes facilities for contacting friends and families such as welfare telephones, BFPO mail service and e-blueys (an email version of the bluey aerogram), access to the internet and family travel concessions.

Type 23 Frigates

Bernard Jenkin: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence whether all Type 23 frigates are to be enhanced with CEC capability; and if he will make a statement.

Adam Ingram: Discussions on the number of Type 23 frigates to undergo full ship fitment of United Kingdom Co-operative Engagement Capability (CEC) will be taken at Main Gate investment decision in 2005. Analysis suggests that fitment to seven Type 23s will provide the most cost-effective way to introduce the UK CEC capability at the earliest opportunity. This will provide a sufficient force to develop the usage and tactics of the system and also to provide a robust network to interact with CEC in the Type 45 Destroyer.

INTERNATIONAL DEVELOPMENT

Afghanistan

Robert Key: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development pursuant to her written statement of 1 April 2003, Official Report, column 51WS, on Afghanistan, and with reference to the Afghanistan Development Forum in March, what steps her Department are taking to encourage the fulfilment of pledges made in Tokyo and reiterated in Oslo in December 2002.

Clare Short: The majority of donors are performing well against the pledges they made in Tokyo in January 2002. My Department enjoys good relations with many of the donors and we take the opportunity to encourage them to fulfil their pledges whenever we are in contact, both at an official and ministerial level.

Doha Trade Negotiations

Robert Key: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development what assessment her Department has made of Doha trade negotiations with respect to the 31 March deadline; and if she will make a statement.

Clare Short: The Government are disappointed that the 31 March deadline to establish modalities for a new Agreement on Agriculture was not achieved. Agricultural trade reform is critical for developing countries and central to the wider Doha Development Agenda. WTO members must now redouble their efforts to reach consensus by the fifth meeting of the WTO Ministerial Conference in September this year and the UK will continue to play an active part in seeking to bring this about. Regarding the 31 March deadline for WTO members to make initial market access offers under the General Agreement on Trade in Services (GATS), we welcome the tabling so far of offers by 13 WTO members, including some developing countries, and encourage other members to follow suit. As to the EU's initial offer, the Government have been working hard within the EU to agree an offer that will be meaningful for both developed and developing countries. Although the offer has not yet been finalised, it is well advanced and we expect it to be presented to the WTO very shortly.

Doha Trade Negotiations

Robert Key: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development what steps her Department is taking to put new momentum into the Doha trade round; and if she will make a statement.

Clare Short: We are very concerned at the lack of progress in the current round of WTO negotiations. As I explained in a speech to Chatham House on 25 March 2003, failure in Cancun would be a major set back for both the world economy and poor countries. A full copy of the speech is available on my Department's website (http://www.dfid.gov.uk).
	In order to inject political momentum into the round I am undertaking, together and in co-ordination with my ministerial colleagues, a series of activities both in public and in private to advocate the benefits of the round, push the negotiations forward, and ensure a successful outcome in Cancun.
	The Government will continue to work to ensure that the promises for a 'development round' made in Doha become a reality.

European Working Groups

John Bercow: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development if she will make a statement on progress with achieving transparency in respect of the European working groups for which her Department is responsible.

Clare Short: The Government have long been committed to greater openness in the EU Institutions. This was a key theme of the UK Presidencies in 1992 and 1998. Making it easier to gain access to non-sensitive documents is crucial to this. The Government welcomed Regulation 1049/2001 regarding public access to European Parliament, Council and Commission documents. As a result, more documents are released to the public, while genuinely sensitive documents are given the protection they need.
	Much of the council's work takes place in preparatory bodies, including working groups. Agendas and timings for the working groups can be found on http://europa.eu.int/cal/en/index.htm.
	Accountability and transparency of Council business to Parliament are ensured by the scrutiny process, to which the Government are also firmly committed.
	We strongly supported the measures agreed at the Seville European Council to make the council more open when in legislating mode. We remain committed to increasing transparency. The Future of Europe Convention is also looking at ways to make the EU more open.

Exhibitions

Tim Yeo: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development if she will list events at which her Department and each agency and non-departmental public body for which her Department is responsible have exhibited in each of the last three years, stating for each (a) the purpose of exhibiting, (b) the cost of exhibiting and (c) the number of staff attending for the exhibition.

Clare Short: It would not be possible to list all the events in which the Department has participated over the past three years without disproportionate effort. DFID's exhibitions and events schedule supports DFID's Development Awareness role. The principal events in which the Department has participated in each of the past two years are:
	Education sector: BETT, the Education Show, and appropriate educational trade union conferences;
	Business and trade unions sector: CBI and British Chambers of Commerce annual conferences, TUC annual conference;
	Media sector: Sheffield International Documentary Festival.
	The Department also exhibits on an occasional basis at recruitment fairs, and at meetings on development-related themes.
	Staffing at these events is a maximum team of three.
	The total annual operating costs for DFID's events activity for each of the past three years is shown in the table. The figures include associated promotional tasks such as support for ministerial regional visits and internal staff-focused activities.
	
		
			 Financial Year £ 
		
		
			 2000–01 198,058 
			 2001–02 91,532 
			 2002–03 203,552 
		
	
	Figures for 2002–03 are subject to final auditing to take account of any end of year adjustments.

Guatemala

Jenny Tonge: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development what funds her Department has allocated to Guatemala in each year since 1997.

Clare Short: Since 1997 my Department has spent the following funds on Guatemala:
	
		£ million
		
			 Financial Year (20)DFID programmes (21)DFID share of EC programme 
		
		
			 1997–98 0.404 2.4 
			 1998–99 0.479 3.6 
			 1999–2000 0.371 4.1 
			 2000–01 0.319 2.5 
			 2001–02 0.420 (22)— 
			 2002–03 (22)— (22)— 
		
	
	(20) DFID programme figures by financial year
	(21) DFID share of EC programme by calendar year
	(22) Figures not yet available

Iraq

Robert Key: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development if she will list (a) UK and (b) non-UK NGOs with which her Department has had meetings regarding the humanitarian situation in Iraq.

Clare Short: DFID officials have been meeting with NGOs in London since 13 February on a weekly basis. The Save The Children Fund UK (SCF-UK) co-ordinates this informal group on Iraq, which is a forum for discussing latest developments. Attendance at these meetings includes Christian Aid, SCF-UK, Mines Awareness Group (MAG), Oxfam, CAFOD and Tearfund. We are also meeting with non-UK NGOs in Amman and Kuwait. Attendance at these meetings includes GOAL, Premiere, Enfant du Monde, Architects of People in Need (APN), Danish Church Aid, Norwegian Church Aid, SCF-US and Mercy Corps.

Iraq

Harry Cohen: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development whether the cost (a) of humanitarian aid distributed from (i) HMS Sir Galahad and (ii) other sources associated with the UK and (b) assumed to have been incurred by the use of UK troops in distributing the aid will be charged to the UN Oil for Food Programme; and if she will make a statement.

Clare Short: Humanitarian supplies being provided and distributed by UK forces will not be paid for by the Oil for Food Programme (OFF). The Ministry of Defence has been allocated £30 million by HM Treasury to help it carry out its humanitarian obligations under the Geneva Convention and The Hague Regulations.
	The UK does not otherwise provide significant bilateral humanitarian assistance; our assistance is channelled mainly through UN and international aid agencies.

National Insurance

John Bercow: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development what the cost will be to public funds in 2003–04 of the rise in national insurance contributions on the salary bill of her Department.

Clare Short: It is estimated that the changes to employers' national insurance contributions announced in the Budget will increase pay costs on average by 0.7 per cent. next year.

Southern Africa

Robert Key: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development what discussions her Department has had with other donors in relation to the World Food Programme's shortfall in funds for the southern Africa food crisis; and if she will make a statement.

Clare Short: The World Food Programme's $507 million appeal in July 2002 is now 76 per cent. funded. Both the Prime Minister and I have written to other donors to urge further contributions. The international communities response to the crisis has funded enough food and other supplies to avoid a major catastrophe. DFID officials meet regularly with WFP and other donors, including USAID and the EU, to monitor the food security position in southern Africa. The UK has contributed more that £106 million in humanitarian assistance to Southern Africa since September 2001. The UK share of EU assistance was over £21 million.

Southern Africa

Robert Key: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development what assessment her Department has made of the southern Africa food crisis after mid-May; and if she will make a statement.

Clare Short: Southern Africa has suffered a serious humanitarian crisis since late 2001. Harvests are due across the region starting in April. Early forecasts are for variable but generally improved crops. If these forecasts are accurate, then there should be a significant reduction in the scale of the crisis in the region. There will be little need for food aid in Malawi and Zambia, but continuing pockets of need in Mozambique, Lesotho and Swaziland.
	However, there continues to be a major crisis in Zimbabwe. There is likely to be a 1 million tonne shortfall in maize production, and although the number needing food aid in the coming months may drop from the present level of 7 million, this figure is almost certain to climb again by the end of the year.

Websites

Tim Yeo: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development if she will make a statement on the (a) cost of and (b) number of visitors to each website operated by her Department and each agency and non-departmental public body for which her Department is responsible in each year since its establishment.

Clare Short: The Department for International Development currently operates three principal websites: the departmental site (www.dfid.gov.uk), a site providing access to development education resources (www.globaldimension.org.uk) and a site relating to DFID's quarterly magazine, 'Developments' (www.developments.org.uk). For the launch of the 2000 White Paper on International Development, DFID supported the creation of an additional site (www.globalisation.gov.uk). All sites are active, although the 2000 White Paper site is treated as dormant for the purposes of uploading new information. It would not be possible to list all start-up and annual running costs since inception without disproportionate effort. However, operating and associated costs for each of the websites for the last three financial years are as follows:
	
		
			  Financial year 
			  2000–01 2001–02 2002–03 
		
		
			 DFID website 37,825 122,504 64,677 
			 Global Dimension website 37,595 118,984 131,268 
			 2000 White Paper website 60,000 15,000 15,000 
			 Developments website 9,272 7,304 17,704 
		
	
	Figures for 2002–03 are subject to final auditing to take account of any end of year adjustments.
	
		
			  Hits Page Impressions Unique Visitors 
		
		
			 DFID Website
			 2001–02(23) 17,269,840 14,128,707 224,016  
			 2002–03 29,298,520 6,651,074 424,212 
			 
			 Global Dimension Website
			 2001–02(24) 113,803 — 9,019 
			 2002–03(25) 393,584 — 30,125 
			 
			 White Paper Website
			 2000–01(26) 823,147 283,160 18,587 
			 2001–02(27) 1,301,670 445,884 36,622 
			 2002–03(28) 748,920 217,092 37,263 
			 Developments Website
			 2000–01(29) — 214,052 — 
			 2001–02(30) — 201,100 — 
			 2002–03(31) — 220,976 — 
		
	
	(23) Estimated figures (Hits/Unique Visitors) used for April 2001 to October 2001
	(24)
	,
	(25) No Page Impression figures available
	(26) Estimated figures (Hits, Page Impressions, Unique Visitors) used for February 2001 to March 2001
	(27) Estimated figures (Hits, Page Impressions, Unique Visitors) used for April 2001, December 2001 to March 2002
	(28) Estimated figures (Hits, Page Impressions, Unique Visitors) used for April 2002 to May 2002
	(29)No 'Hits' or 'Unique Visitors' figures available
	(30)No 'Hits' or 'Unique Visitors' figures available
	(31)No 'Hits' or 'Unique Visitors' figures available

World Food Programme

Vernon Coaker: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development what contribution her Department has made to date to the World Food Programme appeals for (a) Southern Africa and (b) Ethiopia.

Clare Short: DFID has contributed over £106 million since September 2001 to support humanitarian assistance and recovery programmes across six countries in southern Africa (Lesotho, Malawi, Mozambique, Swaziland, Zambia and Zimbabwe). In addition, the UK has contributed over £21 million to the European Community's response.
	Of the total bi-lateral UK contribution, £38.22 million has gone directly to the World Food Programme to support its operations and a further £30.87 million has been provided to support NGO feeding operations, which are closely coordinated with the World Food Programme.
	For Ethiopia, DFID has contributed £15 million for food aid at the end of December 2002 to the World Food Programme and in March 2003 we made a further payment of £2 million to them.

FOREIGN AND COMMONWEALTH AFFAIRS

Turks and Caicos Islands

Jenny Tonge: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what discussions his Department has had with the US Coast Guard regarding the exodus of Haitian immigrants to the Turks and Caicos.

Mike O'Brien: The Turks and Caicos Islands (TCI) Government and the FCO Overseas Territories Law Enforcement Adviser, based in Miami, are in regular contact with the US Coast Guard on policy and operational matters, including the extension of measures to combat illegal migration. The US Coast Guard on the Bahamas Island of Gt. Inagua co-ordinates drug interdiction operations under a tripartite agreement between the USA, TCI and the Bahamas, dating from 1990. This can include operations against vessels carrying illegal migrants. TCI law enforcement personnel participate in these operations.

Turks and Caicos Islands

Jenny Tonge: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what discussions his Department has had with the Government of Haiti regarding Haitian immigrants in the Turks and Caicos.

Mike O'Brien: We have been in discussions with the Haitian authorities for some time about Haitian immigrants to the Turks and Caicos Islands (TCI). On 24 March, our ambassador to Haiti held discussions on this subject with the Haitian Foreign Minister in Port-au-Prince at which it was provisionally agreed that a Haitian Government delegation would visit the TCI later this month to continue the dialogue with the TCI authorities.

Turks and Caicos Islands

Jenny Tonge: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what guidance his Department gives to the Government of the Turks and Caicos Islands regarding the criteria for awarding citizenship.

Mike O'Brien: The criteria for British Overseas Territories Citizenship are detailed in the British Nationality Act 1981. The Home Office, which has lead responsibility for British nationality matters, has issued detailed guidance, which was transmitted in the form of an instruction manual to the Governors of the British Overseas Territories.

Turks and Caicos Islands

Jenny Tonge: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what figures his Department holds for the number of Haitians who have been awarded citizenship in the Turks and Caicos Islands for each year since 1992.

Mike O'Brien: Regrettably, we do not hold the statistics requested. The following statistics in relation to British Overseas Territories Citizenship have been provided by the Governor's Office, but they are total figures and do not include details by nationality;
	
		
			  Registrations Naturalisations 
		
		
			 2000 (August to December) 0 9 
			 2001 50 35 
			 2002 35 42 
			 2003 (January to March) 2 9

Turks and Caicos Islands

Jenny Tonge: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what discussions his Department has had with the government of the Turks and Caicos about illegal Haitian immigrants.

Mike O'Brien: We are in regular contact with Ministers and Officials of the Turks and Caicos Islands Government (TCIG) on this issue. My noble Friend Baroness Amos last raised the issue with the Chief Minister on 3 March.

Turks and Caicos Islands

Jenny Tonge: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what discussions his Department has had with the government of the Turks and Caicos islands regarding the human rights of (a) Haitian immigrants and (b) naturalised Haitians.

Mike O'Brien: We are in regular contact with Ministers and Officials of the Turks and Caicos Islands Government (TCIG) on these issues. My noble Friend Baroness Amos last raised the issues with the Chief Minister on 3 March.

Turks and Caicos Islands

Jenny Tonge: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what recent assessment his Department has made of the internal security situation in the Turks and Caicos Islands.

Mike O'Brien: The Governor delegates responsibility for day to day operations to Turks and Caicos Islands (TCI) Government Ministries and law enforcement agencies. The FCO Overseas Territories Law Enforcement Adviser, based in Miami, and the regional Defence Adviser, based in Jamaica, also visit the TCI regularly and submit independent assessment reports on the internal security situation. The last visit by both was in February. The assessment process is continuous.

Afghanistan

Harry Cohen: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what plans NATO has for operations in Afghanistan; and if he will make a statement.

Adam Ingram: I have been asked to reply.
	I refer my hon. Friend to the answer I gave on 7 April 2003, Official Report, columns 7–8W, to the hon. Member for North Essex (Mr. Jenkin) regarding the potential for NATO involvement in Afghanistan.

Central Asian Nuclear Weapon-Free Zone

Clive Soley: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs if he will make a statement on the Government's response to the decision to create a Central Asian nuclear weapon-free zone by Kazakhstan, Kyrgystan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan; and what implications this has for the UK as a nuclear weapon state.

Mike O'Brien: The UK supports the establishment of nuclear weapon free zones on the basis of arrangements freely arrived at among the states of the region concerned. Together with China, France, Russia and the United States, we have participated in formal consultations with the five Central Asian States concerning the establishment of the draft Central Asian Nuclear Weapon-Free Zone and its draft Protocol. As a nuclear weapon State the UK intends giving a negative security assurance to those States forming this zone, by becoming party to the draft protocol. This would be subject to satisfactory conclusion being reached over the language in the draft Treaty and Protocol.

Document Classification

Harry Cohen: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs how many documents are held by his Department that are subject to security classification, broken down by category of classification.

Jack Straw: The Foreign and Commonwealth Office holds approximately 23 km of archived paper documents and nearly 2 million archived electronic documents; an estimated further 4 km paper files and 3 million electronic documents are held in current registries. No central record of classified documents is maintained and further breakdown could be provided only at disproportionate cost.

Iraq

Harry Cohen: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs pursuant to his answer of 25 March 2003, Official Report, column 120W, on Iraq, which parts of the Iraqi declaration he deems of such a nature as to be justified for non public disclosure under exemption 1 (c) of the Code of Practice on Access to Government Information.

Mike O'Brien: Exemption 1 (c) of the Code of Practice on Access to Government Information covers documents provided in confidence by other governments, international courts and international organisations.
	The Iraqi declaration was provided to the UK Government in confidence by the United Nations. It follows, therefore, that the exemption covers that declaration in its entirety.

Israel

Norman Lamb: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what recent representations he has made to Israel on opening up its nuclear facilities to international inspections.

Mike O'Brien: We consistently urge Israel to accede to the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty as a non nuclear weapons state, and to sign a full-scope safeguards agreement with the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA). We did this most recently during official-level talks with the Israeli Government in Tel Aviv in March 2003. Under the agreement with IAEA, Israel's nuclear facilities would be subject to regular inspection to detect and eliminate any diversion of nuclear materials for weapons production.

Israel

Stephen Pound: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what steps he is taking to ensure that Israel complies with United Nations Security Council resolutions in respect of Palestine.

Mike O'Brien: The Government constantly urges both Israel and the other Parties to the Middle East Peace Process to comply with United Nations Security Council Resolutions. This includes compliance with Resolution 1435, which calls for Israeli withdrawal from Palestinian cities, action by the Palestinian Authority to bring those responsible for acts of terror to justice and a complete cessation of violence. We fully support the Quartet Roadmap and its route to a lasting settlement based on UN Security Council Resolutions 242, 338 and 1397 and the principle of land for peace.

Market Research

John Bercow: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what expenditure has been incurred by his (a) Department, (b) agencies and (c) non-departmental bodies in 2002 on (i) opinion polling, (ii) focus groups and (iii) other forms of market research; and if he will list the surveys commissioned and the purpose of each.

Denis MacShane: The Foreign and Commonwealth Office spent a total of £95,047 on opinion polling, focus groups and market research in the UK in 2002–03.
	The activity consisted of:
	1. a survey to research consular awareness among football supporters travelling to the World Cup in Japan and Korea
	2. a survey to research consular awareness among British travellers in the 16–30 age range
	3. one series of focus groups on attitudes of British citizens towards the EU
	4. one series of focus groups exploring the attitudes of British citizens towards EU enlargement.
	The FCO's non-departmental body, the British Council, undertook research into changing attitudes towards the UK among international students studying in the UK. The aim was to gain insights into how to improve the students' experience of Britain. The cost of the survey was £50,231.
	No other FCO NDPBs or its one Executive Agency conducted surveys in the UK in 2002.

Market Research

John Bercow: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what his estimate is of the expenditure of his Department on newspapers, magazines and periodicals in 2002.

Bill Rammell: For Financial Year 2002–03 the total is £608, 401. These figures are provisional and subject to final audit.

Staff Numbers

John Bercow: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs how many staff were employed by his Department in (a) 2001–02 and (b) 2002–03.

Bill Rammell: I refer the hon. Member to the answer given him by my hon. Friend the Minister of State, Cabinet Office on 4 April 2003, Official Report, column 891W.

Vietnam

Alistair Burt: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what recent discussions he has had with the Vietnamese Government concerning the persecution of Montagnard Christians in the central highlands of Vietnam; and what benchmarks are used to monitor progress in these discussions.

Mike O'Brien: We regularly raise the problems faced by the Montagnards in the Central Highlands with the Vietnamese Government. I discussed the issue with Vietnam's Foreign Minister Nien when I last met him in June 2002. The FCO's Asia Pacific Director raised religious freedom when she discussed human rights with senior Vietnamese officials in December 2002. We are currently working to develop a more focused approach to the group including through the development of an action plan. Our Embassy also monitors progress by regular visits to the Central Highlands region including as part of a delegation from EU Embassies in Hanoi.

Websites

Tim Yeo: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs if he will make a statement on the (a) cost of and (b) number of visitors to each website operated by his Department and each agency and non-departmental public body for which his Department is responsible in each year since its establishment.

Denis MacShane: I refer the hon. Member to the answers I gave to the hon. Member for Buckingham (Mr. Bercow) on 26 February 2002, Official Report, column 1157W, and 3 April 2003, Official Report, column 829W.

Western Sahara

John Grogan: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs if he will make a statement on the Government's policy towards Western Sahara.

Mike O'Brien: The UK—in common with most other countries—regards the sovereignty of Western Sahara as undetermined pending UN efforts to find a solution to this dispute.
	We continue to support the efforts of the United Nations Secretary General (UNSG) and James Baker, his Personal Envoy in trying to find a just and durable resolution to the dispute. We also support UN Security Council Resolution 1429 which expressed the Security Council's readiness to consider any approach that provides for self-determination that the UNSG and his Personal Envoy might propose. It commended the parties for their continuing commitment to the ceasefire.

Zimbabwe

Andrew Rosindell: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs if he will make a statement on recent developments in Zimbabwe.

Bill Rammell: Politically motivated violence in Zimbabwe has increased, predominately against opposition supporters. The MDC organised a successful stayaway on 18 and 19 March. Following the stayaway there were over 500 arrests and over 250 people required hospital treatment. We joined our EU partners in condemning the violence and called on the Government to ensure that by-elections in two Harare constituencies on 29 and 30 March were free and fair. Despite violence and intimidation ahead of these elections, the MDC retained both seats.
	We welcome the Southern African Development Community's recent decision to send a task force to Zimbabwe to investigate human rights abuses and state repression. The Zimbabwean Government needs to end violence, intimidation, and the arrest of key opposition figures; and to work with the opposition and civil society to address Zimbabwe's political, humanitarian and economic crisis.

CULTURE MEDIA AND SPORT

Archaeology

Mark Oaten: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport what plans her Department has to introduce a voluntary code of conduct to cover archaeological investigations in support of Article 3 of the Valletta Convention.

Kim Howells: holding answer 8 April 2003
	The Government supports the introduction of a voluntary code of conduct and has agreed with Welsh and Scottish counterparts that such a code should be developed jointly between all three countries. English Heritage has already begun work to develop a voluntary code of conduct with Historic Scotland and Cadw. This work will be undertaken in consultation with all parts of the archaeological community and it is hoped that a draft code of conduct will be available for consultation in the summer.

Archaeology

Mark Oaten: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport what plans she has to establish an interdepartmental committee on archaeology at ministerial level.

Kim Howells: holding answer 8 April 2003
	There are no plans to establish an inter-departmental committee on archaeology at Ministerial level. Government Departments continue to work together on issues concerning the historic environment, including archaeology. For example, ODPM and DEFRA are closely involved in the current review of heritage protection legislation led by DCMS and are co-sponsors of English Heritage's new funding agreement.

Departmental Pay

John Bercow: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport what progress has been made with the pay review in her Department, agencies and non-departmental public bodies for which she is responsible, with particular reference to the gender pay gap; and if she will make a statement.

Kim Howells: In response to the Equal Opportunities Commission (EOC) Task Force 'Just Pay' Report the Government committed departments and agencies to review their pay systems and prepare any necessary action plans to close any equal pay gaps by April 2003. The Cabinet Office issued comprehensive guidance in January 2002 to assist departments and agencies in carrying out these reviews. Additional guidance on completing equal pay action plans was issued in early March 2003.
	DCMS completed its review in July 2002. No significant difference between the salaries of males and females was found. Proposals for change and other recommendations were accepted by the trade unions, subject to pay negotiations.
	The Royal Parks Agency has completed an initial review but has yet to discuss the outcome with its Trade Union Side. No particular gender pay issues have been identified.
	The Department's NDPBs have either completed equal pay reviews or are in the process of finalising them and drawing up action plans. If any equal pay issues are identified, these will be addressed through the pay negotiation process.

English Heritage

Andrew Hunter: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport what recent assessment she has made of whether English Heritage's Images of England project impinges on the human rights of the owners of listed buildings; and if she will make a statement.

Kim Howells: Images of England is an English Heritage scheme funded by the Heritage Lottery Fund. While my right hon. Friend the Secretary of State has been consulted by English Heritage she has not been directly involved in the design or running of the project. However, my right hon. Friend has been assured by English Heritage that the project has been designed to be consistent with Human Rights legislation.

Sport Action Zones

Joan Walley: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport if she will make a statement in respect of sport action zone designation for Stoke on Trent.

Richard Caborn: In December 2002 Sport England announced a stock take and freeze on all completely new Lottery awards until a thorough review of its operations and business objectives has been completed as part of the process of modernising the organisation. That review is ongoing and is expected to be completed by late Summer. I understand that all applications for designation as Sport Action Zones, including the one for Stoke-on-Trent, form part of the stock take exercise.

National Lottery

John Bercow: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport how many charities in the Buckingham constituency have (a) applied for and (b) claimed awards from the Heritage Lottery Fund in each year since the National Lottery began.

Kim Howells: The information is as follows:
	
		
			  Number of charities which applied for awards Number of charity projects approved 
		
		
			 1995–96 1 0 
			 1996–97 2 1 
			 1997–98 2 2 
			 1998–99 2 2 
			 1999–2000 2 1 
			 2000–01 1 1 
			 2001–02 1 1 
			 2002–03 0 0

National Lottery

John Bercow: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport how much grant funding was located by English Heritage and the Heritage Lottery Fund for the conservation of listed buildings in Buckinghamshire in 2001–02.

Kim Howells: £592,733 was allocated by English Heritage and £5,340,300 by the Heritage Lottery Fund for the conservation of listed buildings in Buckinghamshire in 2001–02.

Portable Antiquities Scheme

Mark Oaten: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport what plans her Department has to provide long-term support to the network of finds liaison officers to be established under the Portable Antiquities Scheme after April 2006.

Kim Howells: holding answer 8 April 2003
	DCMS is giving active consideration to the question of long-term sustainability of the Portable Antiquities Scheme. We will consider sympathetically the Scheme's future funding requirements in the course of the normal Spending Review process, as part of our analysis of all our resource needs.

Preventive Health Care

Annette Brooke: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, what recent discussions she has had with the Secretary of State for Health on increasing the effectiveness of preventive health care through the encouragement of greater participation in sporting and fitness activities.

Richard Caborn: I chair monthly cross-governmental ministerial meetings, attended by Ministers from the Department of Health, where issues relating to sport policy are discussed, including the role that greater participation in sport and physical activity can have in improving health. My Department has also been working closely with the Department of Health to ensure effective co-ordination of sport and health policy.

Public Lending Rights

John Bercow: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport what representations she has received about the Public Lending Right (Increase of Limit) Order.

Kim Howells: To date the Department for Culture, Media and Sport, has received two representations, one from the Chairman of the Society of Authors, Philip Pullman and one from a member of the public about the Public Lending Right (Increase of Limit) Order.

Tourism

Nigel Evans: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport if she will list the top 15 tourist attractions in Lancashire and the attendance figures for each attraction in each of the last six years.

Kim Howells: The top15 tourist attractions in Lancashire as listed by the North West Tourist Board are shown as follows. With regard to attendance figures, attractions are under no obligation to the Tourist Board to provide such figures but these are shown where available over the last six years. I should point out that in some cases figures are provided but on the understanding that they are not published hence those shown as 'confidential'. Figures for 2002 are not yet available.
	
		
			  Attraction 1996 1997 1998 1999 2000 2001 
		
		
			 1. Blackpool Pleasure Beach (32)7,500,000 (32)7,800,000 (32)7,100,000 (32)7,200,000 6,800,000 6,500,000 
			 2. Blackpool Tower 1,200,000 1,200,000 (32)750,000 (32)750,000 Confidential Confidential 
			 3. Winter Gardens (32)750,000 (32)750,000 — 750,000 — — 
			 4. Beacon Fell Country Park — 300,000 — — (32)750,000 750,000 
			 5. Botany Bay — — (32)500,000 (32)525,000 — — 
			 6. Sea Life Centre (32)497,000 (32)497,000 Confidential 497,000 — — 
			 7. Oswaldtwistle Mills (32)35,000 (32)35,000 (32)450,000 450,000 — — 
			 8. Camelot Theme Park (32)500,000 (32)500,000 (32)441,000 450,000 400,000 380,000 
			 9. Blackpool Sandcastle (32)400,000 (32)400,000 261,000 400,000 — — 
			 10. Louis Tussauds Waxworks (32)400,000 (32)400,000 350,000 300,000 Confidential Confidential 
			 11. Blackpool Zoo 277,172 (32)200,000 — (32)200,000 270,000 (32)275,000 
			 12. Lancaster Leisure Park 278,000 (32)250,000 300,000 210,000 240,000 Confidential 
			 13. Harris Museum and Art gallery (32)150,000 (32)150,000 (32)150,000 150,000 125,000 125,000 
			 14. Martin Mere Wildlife 175,262 140,000 132,670 132,670 Confidential Confidential 
			 15. Williamson Park 140,000 125,000 98,000 98,000 Confidential Confidential 
		
	
	(32) Indicates the figures are estimated.

HEALTH

AAT Deficiency

Tim Loughton: To ask the Secretary of State for Health whether sperm donors are tested for AAT Deficiency.

Hazel Blears: Sperm donation is regulated by the Human Fertilisation and Embryology Authority (HFEA). The HFEA code of practice expects clinics recruiting donors to take all reasonable steps to prevent the transmission of serious genetic disorders by taking a thorough medical history from the prospective donor. Where the medical history of a prospective donor indicates there may be a risk of the transmission of alpha-antitrpsin (AAT) deficiency, screening for the disorder will usually be carried out.
	Guidelines on appropriate genetic tests for sperm donors have been produced by the British Andrology Society and incorporated into the HFEA code of practice.

AAT Deficiency

Tim Loughton: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what research his Department has carried out into AAT Deficiency; and what funds he makes available for research.

Hazel Blears: The main Government agency for research into the causes of and treatments for disease is the Medical Research Council (MRC), which receives its funding from the Department of Trade and Industry, via the Office of Science and Technology. The MRCs total expenditure in 2001–02 was £413 million. The MRC has supported a number of research projects looking into the genetics and function of alpha-lantitrypsin (AAT) in the past few years and is currently providing a programme grant to examine new therapies for AAT deficiency and associated diseases. This is "Strategies to prevent cirrhosis and dementia by blocking serpin polymerisation in vivo", by Professor David Lomas at the University of Cambridge.
	The Department funds research to support policy and delivery of effective practice in health and social care. The Department is not currently funding any research into AAT deficiency. The Department also provides funding to support research commissioned by the research councils and the charities that is undertaken in the National Health Service, and invested more than £500 million on research in 2001–02. The Department has a programme of research on genetics and has recently funded the creation of five genetics knowledge parks in England.

Agency Social Workers

Tim Loughton: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how much was spent last year by local authorities' social services departments in London on agency social workers.

Jacqui Smith: The information is not collected centrally by the Department.

Air Quality

John Robertson: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what assessment he has made of the effects on health of (a) passive smoking and (b) poor air quality.

Hazel Blears: The independent Scientific Committee on Tobacco and Health concluded in its 1998 Report that:
	Exposure to environmental tobacco smoke is a cause of lung cancer and, in those with long-term exposure, the increased risk is in the order of 20–30 per cent.
	Exposure to environmental tobacco smoke is a cause of ischaemic heart disease and if current published estimates of magnitude of relative risk are validated, such exposures represents a substantial public hazard.
	Smoking in the presence of infants and children is a cause of serious respiratory illness and asthmatic attacks.
	Sudden infant death syndrome, the main cause of post-neonatal death in the first year of life, is associated with exposure to environmental tobacco smoke. The association is judged to be one of cause and effect.
	Middle ear disease in children is linked with parental smoking and this association is likely to be causal.
	The Committee on the Medical Effects of Air Pollutants (COMEAP) and its predecessor, the Advisory Group on the Medical Aspects of Air Pollution Episodes, has published several reports assessing the effects on health of nitrogen dioxide, sulphur dioxide, particles, pollutant mixtures. Executive summaries of these reports are on the COMEAP website at www.doh.gov.uk/comeap/index.htm
	The report on the quantification of the effects of air pollution on health in the United Kingdom, published in 1998, concluded that the levels of air pollution in 1996 contributed to the earlier deaths of up to 24,000 people. Air pollution is thought to worsen the condition of those that are already ill with heart and lung disease and to bring forward the dates of their deaths. The average loss of life expectancy is unknown but is thought to be days, weeks or months rather than years. The report also concluded that air pollution could contribute to a similar number of respiratory hospital admissions. Levels of air pollution have declined since 1996.
	In its report published in 2001, the committee concluded that it was more likely than not that a causal association exists between long-term exposure to particulate air pollution and mortality although the Committee also emphasised the uncertainties. It was also concluded that the effect of long-term exposure on life expectancy was greater than the effects of short-term exposure described in the 1998 report.
	The Department of Health has commissioned a research programme on the effects of air pollution on health. The relevant research projects are listed on the Department's website at www.doh.gov.uk/airpollution/index.htm.

ALT Testing

Mark Lazarowicz: To ask the Secretary of State for Health which Government Department or agency holds (a) reports of the Blood Transfusion Service Working Group on ALT testing, (b) minutes of meetings of regional transfusion directors, (c) minutes of meetings of the governing body of the (i) National Blood Transfusion Service and (ii) Scottish National Blood Transfusion Service, (d) minutes of meetings of the (i) National Directorate of the National Blood Transfusion Service and (ii) its National Management Committee, (e) minutes of meetings of the UK Advisory Committee on Transfusion Transmitted Diseases, (f) minutes of meetings of the Advisory Committee on the Virological Safety of Blood and (g) minutes of meetings of the National Blood Transfusion Service and Scottish National Blood Transfusion Service Liaison committees, (h) minutes of meetings of Blood Transfusion Service consultants, (i) minutes of meetings of regional health authorities, (j) minutes of meetings of the governing body of the North London Blood Transfusion Centre and (k) minutes of meetings of the Board of Directors of the National Blood Authority, for the period from 1 January 1970 to 31 December 1991 inclusive; and which of these records are available for public inspection.

Hazel Blears: The request covers a 21 year period and would require an unreasonable diversion of resources to retrieve the information. In accordance with section 9 of the Code of Practice on Access to Government Information we are, therefore, unable to provide this information.

Ambulances

Evan Harris: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what recent representations he has received on the issue of cross-infection from ambulances or ambulance equipment; what guidance has been issued to ambulance trusts on this issue; and if he will make a statement.

David Lammy: I have received no representation on the issue of cross infection from ambulances or ambulance equipment.
	In 2000, the Department of Health issued advice on the management and control of hospital infection (Health Service Circular 2000/02). All National Health Service trusts, including ambulance trusts were required to take action to:
	strengthen prevention and control of infection
	secure appropriate health care services for patients with infection
	improve surveillance of infection

Assisted Conception

Liam Fox: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what investigation his Department is carrying out into procedures at Leeds General Infirmary Assisted Conception Unit; and whether the results of the inquiry will be made public.

Hazel Blears: An independent investigation has been commissioned by the Department into events at Leeds General Infirmary. This followed reports of the birth of twins who had been conceived by in-vitro fertilisation using the wrong sperm. We are expecting to receive the report of the investigation during the summer. These matters are now the subject of proceedings in the High Court as well as an injunction preventing identification of the parties. For these reasons we have not yet made a decision about publication of the investigation report or any part of it.
	The Human Fertilisation and Embryology Authority (HFEA) is responsible for regulating and inspecting clinics that offer assisted conception treatment. The HFEA has revised its guidelines to clinics in the light of this incident to ensure that they have robust systems in place to prevent similar errors. They have issued guidance on "double witnessing", requiring licensed clinics to have in place procedures to double check the identification of the people undergoing treatment and of the sperm and eggs being used.

Beta Interferon and Glatiramer

Paul Burstow: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what information his Department collects from the School of Health and Related Research at the University of Sheffield regarding the risk sharing agreement for beta interferon and glatiramer.

David Lammy: The Sheffield University School for Health and Related Research (ScHARR) is responsible for collecting and analysing information on health outcomes for patients who receive disease-modifying therapies for multiple sclerosis (MS) under the United Kingdom risk sharing scheme. Information relating to progress in setting up the network of centres who will be providing data to ScHARR is routinely provided to members of the project monitoring group representing the parties to the scheme, including professional bodies, the MS Society and MS Trust, the companies marketing the four products, and UK health departments. ScHARR is not responsible for wider aspects of implementation of the scheme.

Blood Donors (Deaths)

Dai Havard: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many people in the UK in the last five years have died from (a) hepatitis C, (b) HIV and AIDS and (c) vCJD; and how many of them were blood donors.

Hazel Blears: Information on the number of deaths from hepatitis C, collected by the Office for National Statistics, is shown in column A of the following table. It is not known how many of these individuals were blood donors. Every unit of blood collected by the United Kingdom Blood Services (UKBS) has been tested for hepatitis C since 1991.
	The figures shown in column B are the number of deaths in the United Kingdom in HIV-infected individuals with or without reported AIDS. Numbers for recent years will rise as further reports are received. The Health Protection Agency, formerly the Public Health Laboratory Service, collates reports on HIV and AIDS diagnoses and deaths in HIV-infected individuals.
	Column C shows the number of deaths in England and Wales of HIV-infected individuals whose infection was identified as a result of donating blood. A positive HIV test will mean that the donated blood is not used. All donated blood has been tested for HIV since 1988. The chance of being infected with HIV through blood donations is currently less than one in 10 million.
	The National CJD Surveillance Unit collects information on the number of people who have died from vCJD. The UKBS have traced how many were blood donors. These figures are shown in columns E and F.
	
		
			  A B C E F 
			  Deaths(33) in England and Wales where the underlying cause of death(34) was hepatitis C(35) Deaths in UK of HIV- infected individuals with Deaths in HIV-infected individuals who have given blood Deaths in UK from vCJD Blood donors traced by UKBS who died from vCJD 
		
		
			 1998 92 507 5 18 2 
			 1999 92 467 5 15 1 
			 2000 125 475 2 28 3 
			 2001 123 381 2 20 1 
			 2002 (36)— 310 2 17 2 
		
	
	(33) These figures are likely to underestimate the true mortality related to hepatitis C for several reasons:
	the certifying doctor may not always know about the existence of a hepatitis C infection, contracted many years earlier, that had given rise to another fatal liver disease.
	where several other factors (e.g. alcohol, other blood-borne viruses) contributed to fatal chronic liver disease, the certifying doctor may judge that one of the other factors is more important.
	deaths with an underlying cause of primary liver cancer are not included, even if certified as being the result of hepatitis C infection. This is because international coding rules in use at this time do not accept cancers being due to infections, except in the case of HIV/AIDS.
	(34) The underlying cause of death is the disease or condition that initiates the train of morbid events leading directly to death.
	(35) For the years 1997 to 2000, selected using a combination of underlying cause codes 070.4–070.5 from the International Classification of Diseases, Ninth Revision (ICD-9) and the presence of text referring to hepatitis C on the death certificate. For the year 2001 underlying cause codes B17.1 and B18.2 from the International Classification of Diseases, Tenth Revision (ICD-10) were used.
	(36) Information not yet available.

Breast Cancer

Anne Campbell: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what assessment he has made of whether the two-week waiting target for breast cancer patients urgently referred to a specialist by their GP has been met.

Hazel Blears: Very good performance has been achieved in meeting the two week outpatient waiting time standard, with 98.7 per cent. (27,572) of women with suspected breast cancer seen within two weeks of urgent referral by their general practitioner in the last quarter (October to December 2002). Since the standard was introduced in April 1999, over 340,000 women have been seen within two weeks of urgent referral.

Child Fitness

Mr. Gareth Thomas: To ask the Secretary of State for Health if he will introduce a national fitness assessment for 11-year-olds; and if he will make a statement.

Hazel Blears: While we are sympathetic to the need to identify children and young people who are insufficiently active to benefit their health and offer appropriate interventions, we have no plans to introduce a national fitness assessment for 11-year-olds.
	Our inquiries show that the benefits of a national fitness assessment for 11-year-olds would be limited and such an assessment would be difficult to implement. Fitness testing in children and young people reflects genetic and maturational factors rather than providing a meaningful measure of individual fitness. For the majority of 11-year-olds, measures of physical activity behaviour are more relevant and appropriate than physical fitness assessments.
	The Government are committed to improving the fitness of our young people. To this end, the Department for Education and Skills and the Department for Culture, Media and Sport have agreed a public service agreement target with the Prime Minister's Delivery Unit to enhance the take up of sporting opportunities by five to 16-year-olds. The aim is to increase the percentage of school children in England who spend a minimum of two hours each week on high quality physical education and school sport within and beyond the curriculum to 75 per cent. by 2006.

Complaints

Harry Cohen: To ask the Secretary of State for Health whether community health councils will take new complaints from individuals through the NHS complaints procedure; what arrangements he has in place to assist individuals with such complaints until the new arrangements are in place; and if he will make a statement.

David Lammy: There is no statutory requirement for Community Health Councils (CHCs) to provide complaints advocacy although most do provide such a service and many will continue to offer advice to patients until abolition on 1 September.
	Additional specific support is also available in those areas where independent complaints advocacy service pilots exist, 106 ICAS pilots across the country.
	In areas where it is not possible to refer new cases to ICAS pilots, CHCs and patient advice and liaison services based in most national health service trusts will provide advice or refer individuals to local advocacy services.
	From 1 September a national ICAS service will be in place.

Complementary Medicine

Chris Grayling: To ask the Secretary of State for Health when he expects to receive the reports from the working groups on (a) herbalists and (b) acupuncturists.

Hazel Blears: I expect both the herbal medicine and acupuncture regulatory working groups to report by the end of summer 2003. The Department will consult on the basis of their findings as soon as this is practical.

Delayed Discharges

David Ruffley: To ask the Secretary of State for Health if he will set target times for the length of time delayed discharge patients remain in (a) acute and (b) non acute beds in (i) the West Suffolk and (ii) the Central Suffolk PCT area.

Jacqui Smith: There are currently no nationally set target times for the length of time patients wait for discharge from hospital, either nationally or in local areas, in acute or non-acute beds. However there may be local agreements between health and social care partners.
	However, the Community Care (Delayed Discharges etc.) Act 2003 will introduce a system of reimbursement for delayed discharges. Where the delay is because social services have either not assessed the patient or have not provided the necessary community care services, the local authority will pay a charge to the national health service for every day of delay. This will initially apply to patients receiving acute care.

Dental Services

Nicholas Soames: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many dental practices are taking on new NHS patients in (a) the constituency of mid Sussex and (b) west Sussex.

Hazel Blears: holding answer 7 April 2003
	The number of general dental service practices recorded on the www.nhs.uk website as taking on new National Health Service patients in the constituencies of mid Sussex and west Sussex at 4 April 2003 is shown in the table.
	
		General Dental Service: Number of dental practices taking new NHS patients, at 4 April 2003
		
			  Mid Sussex (37)West Sussex 
		
		
			 Practices accepting charge exempt adults (38)— 52 
			 Practices accepting charge paying adults for NHS treatment (38)— 7 
			 Practices accepting children (38)— 83 
		
	
	(37) 180 practices listed
	(38) Nil return
	Some of these practices would provide emergency dental service, occasional NHS treatment to non-registered patients and patients on referral. In addition some other practices may be taking on some NHS patients but do not want this published on the website.
	Patients seeking to register with a dentist can access information on the dental practices taking on new patients by contacting NHS Direct, their local primary care trust or by accessing the www.nhs.uk website.

Dental Services

John Bercow: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what recent assessment he has made of the provision of NHS dentistry in Buckinghamshire.

Hazel Blears: No recent assessment of the provision of national health service dentistry has been made by the Department. However, the provision of dental services in Buckinghamshire is routinely monitored by primary care trusts (PCTs).
	In the forthcoming Health and Social Care Bill, the Government propose to legislate for far-reaching reform of NHS dental services. It is proposed that each PCT be given a duty to provide or secure the provision of primary dental services in its area to the extent that it considers reasonable to do so and be given the financial resources to do this. This will give PCTs the flexibility to address access issues in their area. Dentists who contract with a PCT will have a secure income in return for making a longer-term commitment to the NHS.

Dietary Advice

Chris Grayling: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many five a day co-ordinators have been recruited by the NHS; and what their average salary is.

Hazel Blears: Sixty-six primary care trusts have applied to the New Opportunities Fund for grants to support five a day community initiatives; 54 have been approved so far. Each employs or will shortly be recruiting a local co-ordinator in a salary range of £23,000 to £27,000. In addition there will be 10 regional co-ordinators, three of which posts are part-time, in a salary range of £25,000 to £30,000 pro rata; and one part-time supra-regional co-ordinator at a salary of £35,000 pro-rata. Eight local co-ordinators have been recruited so far.

Disease Outbreak

Paul Keetch: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what provisions have been made to ensure effective dissemination of public information in the event of a large-scale disease outbreak; and if he will make a statement.

Hazel Blears: The Department ensures that the public has access to a wide range of information resources on disease and immunisations. It is available direct to the public and via health professionals. In the event of a large-scale disease outbreak, information can be disseminated through existing local and national networks.

Essex Rivers Healthcare Trust

Ivan Henderson: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many (a) general practitioners, (b) consultants and (c) nurses were employed by Essex Rivers Healthcare Trust in each year since 1997.

David Lammy: The information available is shown in the table.
	
		Hospital, public health medicine and community health services (HCHS): consultants employed at Essex Rivers Healthcare Trust (RDE) 1997-March 2002 England as at 30 September(39) -- Headcount
		
			  1997 1998 1999 2000 2001 March 2002 
		
		
			 Consultants 75 75 83 84 90 94 
			   
			 Qualified nursing, midwifery and health visiting staff(40) 1,056 1,096 1,122 1,077 1,014 (41)— 
		
	
	Notes:
	(39) Figures are as at 30 September, except for 2002, where figures as at 31 March.
	(40) Figures exclude learners
	(41) Denotes information unavailable.
	Source:
	Department of Health medical and dental workforce census
	Department of Health non-medical workforce census
	National health service trusts do not employ staff as general practitioners.

Exhibitions

Tim Yeo: To ask the Secretary of State for Health if he will list events at which his Department and each agency and non-departmental public body for which his Department is responsible have exhibited in each of the last three years, stating for each (a) the purpose of exhibiting, (b) the cost of exhibiting and (c) the number of staff attending for the exhibition.

David Lammy: This information is not collected centrally and can be provided only at disproportionate cost.

Food Poverty

Jim Cunningham: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what recent assessment he has made of the level of food poverty in the UK; and what criteria he uses to define food poverty.

Hazel Blears: holding answer 20 March 2003
	Poverty is a complex multi-dimensional concept, affecting many aspects of people's lives, including their inability to access an affordable healthy diet. Diet is assessed through a series of surveys: the National Diet and Nutrition Surveys, the Expenditure and Food Survey and the Health Survey for England. For example, the results of the 2001 Health Survey for England on the consumption of fruit and vegetables were analysed by the National Statistics Socio-Economic Classification (NS-SEC), equivalised household income and area deprivation; the results are published in "Health Survey for England 2001: Fruit and vegetable consumption".

General Medical Council (Dr. Gbinghie)

Barry Gardiner: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what lessons he has drawn from the ruling by the General Medical Council in the case of Dr. Gbinghie.

Hazel Blears: The General Medical Council's (GMC) Professional Conduct Committee has found Dr. Gbinghie guilty of serious professional misconduct and placed conditions on his registration for a period of three years.
	I understand that following publicity of this case, further allegations have been made and that these will be considered by the GMC.
	Under section 29 of the National Health Service Reform and Health Care Professions Act 2002, the newly established Council for the Regulation of Healthcare Professionals, which will become fully operational this year, will in future cases be able to refer a regulatory body's final decision on a fitness to practice case to the High Court where this is necessary for the protection of the public.
	In addition the Commission for Healthcare Improvement and the National Care Standards Commission are responsible for checking that systems are in place to ensure that all staff are trained and experienced in the type of duties they are performing.

Health and Social Care Act

Peter Luff: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what assessment he has made of the compliance of the consultations being undertaken by the South Worcestershire Primary Care Trust with the requirements of section 11 of the Health and Social Care Act 2001; and if he will make a statement.

David Lammy: None. It would not be appropriate for Ministers to assess or comment upon public consultations while they are ongoing. The Health and Social Care Act gave new powers to the overview and scrutiny committees (OSC) of local authorities to review and scrutinise the development of health services. OSCs have the power to report to the Secretary of State in writing, on any case where the committee is not satisfied that consultation on a proposal for substantial developments or variations to services has been adequate in relation to content or time allowed.

Health Education

Chris Grayling: To ask the Secretary of State for Health if he will list the public health education campaigns carried out by his Department in the last 12 months.

Hazel Blears: A list of the major public health campaigns run by the Department's Communications Directorate for 2002–03 is shown in the table. Also included is the purpose of each campaign.
	
		
			 Name of campaign Purpose 
		
		
			 Antibiotics To encourage the public not to overuse antibiotics and thus reduce their effectiveness 
			 CALM (Campaign Against Living Miserably) To promote the CALM mental health helpline to young men on the onset of depression (certain regions only) 
			 Flu To advise general public that those at risk (people 65 and over and others suffering from specified illnesses) should see their GP for a free flu jab 
			 Immunisation Advertising campaign to inform parents that they could obtain advice about MMR from health professionals and get a free information pack, simply by calling NHS Direct. Ran May to October 2002 in national press, regional press, parenting press, women's magazines and local radio 
			 Mind Out Campaign to reduce the stigma associated with all those with mental health problems 
			 NHS Direct NHS Direct Older People campaign—ran from w/c 17 June 2002 to end of October 2002. The main objective of the campaign is to increase awareness and usage of NHS Direct amongst 65 to 75-year-olds by 10 per cent. NHS Direct Online campaign—a text link advertising campaign ran throughout 2002–03 aimed at all internet users searching for health information on the web. An internet advertising campaign targeting young men aged 18–34 ran from November 2002 to January 2003 and a campaign targeted at young women aged 18–34 ran from January to March 2003, the aim of both being to raise awareness and usage of the NHS Direct Online website 
			 Organ donation To encourage the everyone to register as an organ donor and to carry an organ donation card 
			 R U Thinking (teenage pregnancy) R U Thinking's target audience is young people (boys and girls) between the ages of 11 and 18. The main purpose of the campaign is to support the teenage pregnancy strategy. The strategy's key aim is to halve the rate of teenage conceptions in England by 2010. The national campaign focuses on the key messages of taking control, choices and personal responsibility 
			 Sex Lottery (adult sexual health) The Sex Lottery's target audience is young adults between the ages of 18 and 30. The main purpose of the campaign is to raise awareness of sexually transmitted infections (STIs) and to provide information to encourage condom usage. The key objective is to reduce rates of STIs amongst the target audience 
			 Smoking The purpose of the Tobacco Information Campaign is to reduce smoking prevalence in England. The campaign's most visible presence is a TV advertising campaign

Health Education

Liam Fox: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how much his Department spent on (a) health and (b) diabetes educational materials for schools in each year since 1997.

Hazel Blears: The Department does not keep a central record of specific expenditure on educational materials in schools. We support: a variety of programmes and initiatives to enhance and support education about health and healthy living. Alongside the Department for Education and Skills, we jointly fund the national healthy schools programme, which has provided a total of £27 million since it began in 1999. We have also supported a number of good practice booklets for schools and teachers to help them ensure the health and well being of their pupils. Together, these initiatives have an important role in the prevention of many conditions, including diabetes. The Department has not produced education materials exclusively about diabetes.

Human Sperm Donor Services

Sandra Gidley: To ask the Secretary of State for Health 
	(1)  if he will make a statement on his Department's arrangements for monitoring companies offering human sperm donor services;
	(2)  what human sperm donor services are not covered by the Human Fertilisation Embryology Authority; and if he will make a statement;
	(3)  what assessment his Department has made of risks facing women who purchase human sperm over the internet.

Hazel Blears: The Human Fertilisation and Embryology Act 1990 requires the storage of donor sperm and its use in the provision of fertility treatment services to be carried out under a licence from the Human Fertilisation and Embryology Authority (HFEA). The Act does not cover sperm donor services that provide sperm only, and not treatment, except where the sperm is stored.
	Where the HFEA becomes aware that an organisation in the United Kingdom is offering services that may be covered by the Act, a thorough investigation is made to establish the nature of the service. If licensable, the HFEA will require that activity to cease until such time as a licence may be granted.
	Women wishing to have a child using donor sperm are strongly advised by the HFEA to seek treatment from a licensed clinic, where they can be sure that the services will be provided in a safe and ethical environment. Patients obtaining fresh donor sperm from the internet for personal use, which is not subject to a licence from the HFEA, cannot be sure that the sample has undergone the same rigorous health checks to prevent the risk of transmitting HIV or serious genetics disorders.

Mental Health

Tim Loughton: To ask the Secretary of State for Health pursuant to his answer of 12 March 2003, Official Report, column 343W, on mental health, what involvement the National Patient Safety Agency has had in the last year with serious untoward incidents by mental health patients in mental health trusts.

Hazel Blears: The National Patient Safety Agency (NPSA) has already begun collecting and analysing key information on adverse events from local organisations, including reports from a number of mental health trusts, as well as from other sources.
	Following on from piloting of the national reporting and learning system for adverse events in 28 hospitals and primary care units, the reporting system is undergoing further testing and development prior to being implemented across the national health service from summer 2003.
	By collecting and analysing data on adverse events, the agency will be able to identify trends and patterns of avoidable adverse events, including those involving mental health patients, provide feedback to organisations to enable them to change their working practices, help develop models of good practice and systems solutions at national level and support ongoing education and learning.
	The NPSA is also providing training and support to all trusts, to enable them to develop the skills to carry out root cause analysis investigations of serious incidents, such as suicides in mental health patients, to ensure that lessons are learnt.

Mental Health

Tim Loughton: To ask the Secretary of State for Health pursuant to his answer of 12 March 2003, Official Report, column 343W, on mental health, how much funding was given to the National Confidential Inquiry into Suicide and Homicide by People with Mental Illness this financial year; and if he will make a statement on the work of the group.

Andrew Smith: The funding given to the National Confidential Inquiry into Suicide and Homicide (CISH) in the financial year 2002–03 was £444,407. The CISH will publish academic papers based on the findings reported in 'Safety First' and maintain the collection of statistics on suicides and homicides by people with mental health problems across the United Kingdom, explore ways to provide feedback on findings and initiate new studies.

Mobile Phones

Andrew Mitchell: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what progress the Mobile Telecommunications and Health Research Programme is making; when he expects to receive its first report; and what consideration has been given to including the Wishaw mobile telecommunications mast in Sutton Coldfield in its investigations.

Hazel Blears: The LINK mobile telecommunications and health research (MTHR) programme was set up in response to the recommendations of the Stewart report in May 2000, available on www.iegmp.org.uk
	The programme is jointly funded by industry and government to the value of £7.36 million. Decisions on funding are made by an independent programme management committee. The first 15 research projects to be funded under the first call were announced in January 2002. Two further calls for proposals have also been made. Two projects are nearing completion. Researchers are expected to publish in the open literature, and results will be publicised on the programme website. Twice yearly progress reports are presented to the programme funders and in November 2002, the programme ran the first of a series of annual research meetings. Details are published on the programme's website at www.mthr.org.uk
	The projects follow the research recommendations identified in the Stewart report and most relate to the use of mobile phones handsets. However, in practice many of the experimental studies will also be valuable in providing evidence on any possible effects on people of exposures from mobile phone masts. The programme includes a recently announced epidemiological study on the incidence of cancer around mobile phone base stations. The third call, issued in December 2002, included a request for proposals, which will examine the basis of symptoms attributed to exposure from base station emissions.
	The Radiocommunications Agency "audit" of mobile phone mast emissions shows that the maximum measurements taken at Wishaw Riding School was 1/13623 of the ICNIRP exposure guideline levels—www.radio.gov.uk

Nurses (Buckinghamshire)

John Bercow: To ask the Secretary of State for Health 
	(1)  how many nurses are employed in each of the hospitals located in the Buckinghamshire Health Authority;
	(2)  how many nursing vacancies there are in the Buckinghamshire Health Authority area; and what the average figure is for each hospital trust.

Hazel Blears: The number of nursing vacancies in the Buckinghamshire Health Authority Area is shown in table 1.
	
		Table 1. Department of Health Vacancies Survey, March 2002—Vacancies in NHS Trusts in the Buckinghamshire Health Authority area, by organisation, qualified nursing, midwifery and health visiting staff three month vacancy rates and numbers
		
			  Qualified nursing, midwifery and health visiting staff—March 2002 
			  Three monthvacancy rate(percentage) Three monthvacancynumber 
		
		
			 Buckinghamshire HA 4.7 135 
			
			 Buckinghamshire HA — — 
			 Buckinghamshire Mental Health NHS Trust 0.7 2 
			 Milton Keynes General Hospital NHS Trust 7.8 49 
			 Milton Keynes PCT 2.8 7 
			 South Buckinghamshire NHS Trust 4.8 40 
			 Stoke Mandeville Hospital NHS Trust 5.9 36 
			 Two Shires Ambulance NHS Trust 0.0 0 
			 Vale of Aylesbury PCT 0.9 2 
		
	
	Three month vacancy notes:
	1. Three month vacancy information is as at 31 March 2002.
	2. Three month vacancies are vacancies which Trusts are actively trying to fill, which had lasted for three months or more (whole time equivalents).
	3. Three month Vacancy Rates are three month vacancies expressed as a percentage of three month vacancies plus staff in post.
	4. Three month Vacancy Rates for non-medical staff are calculated using staff in post from the Vacancy Survey, March 2002.
	5. Percentages are rounded to one decimal place.
	6. Not available as vacancy information was only collected from Trusts, PCTs and Special Health Authorities.
	General notes:
	1. Vacancy numbers are rounded to the nearest whole number.
	2. Due to rounding, totals may not equal the sum of component parts.
	3. HA figures are based on Trusts, and do not necessarily reflect the geographical provision of healthcare.
	Source:
	Department of Health Vacancies Survey, March 2002
	The information for the number of nurses employed in each of the hospitals located in the Buckinghamshire Health Authority area is not collected centrally at individual hospital level. However, this information is shown by trust and primary care trust (PCT) in table 2.
	
		Table 2. Number of qualified nursing, midwifery and health visiting staff in the Buckinghamshire area, by organisation as at 30 September 2001
		
			  Qualified nursing, midwifery and health visiting staff—September 2001 
			  Whole-time equivalent Headcount 
		
		
			 Buckinghamshire HA 2,824 3,859 
			
			 Buckinghamshire HA (42)— (42)— 
			 Buckinghamshire Mental Health NHS Trust 344 401 
			 Milton Keynes General Hospital NHS Trust 564 818 
			 Milton Keynes PCT 310 377 
			 South Buckinghamshire NHS Trust 783 1,090 
			 Stoke Mandeville Hospital NHS Trust 547 750 
			 Two Shires Ambulance NHS Trust 54 70 
			 Vale of Aylesbury PCT 222 351 
		
	
	(42) Five or less and greater than zero.
	Notes:
	1. Figures are rounded to the nearest whole number.
	2. Due to rounding, totals may not equal the sum of component parts.
	3. Due to rounding, totals may not equal the sum of component parts.
	4. HA figures are based on Trusts, and do not necessarily reflect the geographical provision of healthcare.
	Source:
	Department of Health Non-Medical Workforce Census, September 2001.

Poster 31166

Cheryl Gillan: To ask the Secretary of State for Health if he will withdraw poster 31166-Where to find resources.

Hazel Blears: The Department has no plans to withdraw poster 31166 and would have no reason to do so.

Public Health Laboratory Service

David Drew: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what proposals he has to secure funding for the Public Health Laboratory Service after its re-structuring in April; and what plans he has to secure employment prospects for all staff employed by the Public Health Laboratory Service after the re-structuring.

Hazel Blears: holding answer 1 April 2003
	As of 1 April, the Public Health Laboratory Service (PHLS) is responsible for producing culture media for microbiology laboratories in the Health Protection Agency (HPA) and some parts of the national health service. The funding for this will come mainly from the purchase of media by the NHS and the HPA, plus some central funding from the Department. The NHS and the HPA have been asked by the Chief Executive of the NHS to continue utilising this media service at existing levels in order to protect the continuity of supply and ensure stability.
	The staff of the four units where this function is carried out remain employees of the PHLS. The employment prospects of all the staff involved will be protected by the change management protocol, which applied to those staff transferring from the PHLS to the HPA or to NHS trusts. An early review of media services is planned which is expected to make recommendations for the longer term.

Rubella

Liam Fox: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many cases of rubella were recorded in (a) London and (b) England in each year since 1997.

Hazel Blears: The number of confirmed cases of rubella in England and London between 1997 and 2002 is shown in the table. The data for 2002 is provisional and are therefore subject to change.
	
		Laboratory confirmed cases of rubella, 1997–2002.
		
			  England London 
		
		
			 1997 94 5 
			 1998 120 5 
			 1999 158 4 
			 2000 59 11 
			 2001 38 12 
			 2002 (provisional) 63 20

Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome

John Bercow: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many deaths in the United Kingdom have resulted from severe acute respiratory syndrome.

Hazel Blears: There have been no deaths in the United Kingdom from severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS).

Skin Cancer

Cheryl Gillan: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many clinical nurse specialists in skin cancer there were on (a) 1 January 2002, (b) 1 July 2002 and (c) 1 January 2003.

Hazel Blears: holding answer 8 April 2003
	The information requested is not collected centrally. The non-medical workforce census collects information annually on the number of nurses employed in the National Health Service as at 30 September each year, but can not distinguish those who are clinical nurse specialists in skin cancer.

Smoking

Chris Grayling: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what action his Department has taken following the publication by the Schools Health Education Unit of its report into trends in young people's attitudes to smoking.

Hazel Blears: The surveys carried out by the schools health education unit are not based upon representative samples; therefore the results and any assertions about trends should be treated with caution.
	The 1998 White Paper, "Smoking Kills", set a target to reduce smoking among 11–15 year olds from 13 per cent., to 9 per cent., by 2010 with a fall to 11 per cent., by 2005. Progress towards this target is monitored by a series of surveys of schoolchildren carried out on behalf of the Department of Health, originally by the Office of Population Censuses and Surveys and since 2000 by the National Centre for Social Research and National Foundation for Educational Research.
	The methodology in sample selection used in the schools health education unit survey does not allow a direct comparison with the Department of Health commissioned data.
	The Government is on course to meet the White Paper "Smoking Kills" target Smoking prevalence has remained unchanged since 2000 at 10 per cent., which is well below the 1996 level of 13 per cent. Nevertheless, the Government is taking positive action to tackle teenage smoking, such as:
	the Tobacco Advertising and Promotion Act 2002 provided a ban on advertising: the cigarettes smoked most by children are also those most heavily advertised.
	tough enforcement on under-age sales; on 13 September 2000 the Government launched an Enforcement Protocol with local authorities to ensure that the existing legislation on under-age sales is properly enforced.
	support for proof of age card schemes which protect shopkeepers and children alike.
	tougher new restrictions on siting of cigarette vending machines.
	public awareness media campaigns.
	fiscal policy: the high price of cigarettes is a particular disincentive for young people.

Smoking

Chris Grayling: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what assessment he has made of the link between parental smoking and children taking up smoking.

Hazel Blears: The independent Scientific Committee on Tobacco and Health, in its 1998 report, concluded that an enquiry from the Office of Population Censuses and Surveys 1 (commissioned by the Department of Health) showed that: young people whose parents smoke are twice as likely to smoke as children of non-smoking parents; and that young people who perceive no parental disapproval are seven times more likely to smoke than young people who perceive strong parental disapproval. A Royal College of Physicians working party report 2 showed that prevalence of smoking among young people is higher in those living with a single parent and is higher still if the lone parent is a smoker.
	1 "Why Children Start Smoking". An enquiry carried out by Social Survey Division of OPCS on behalf of the Department of Health HMSO London 1990.
	2 "Smoking and the Young". A Report of a Working Party of the Royal College of Physicians London 1992.

Smoking

Chris Grayling: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many anti-smoking clinics have been set up in the NHS; and how many he expects to be opened in the next 12 months.

Hazel Blears: The information collected centrally about smoking cessation services does not include the number and type of services in each primary care trust (PCT), as this is a matter for local decision.
	National targets are set for the number of four-week quitters to be achieved; and each PCT is responsible for commissioning smoking cessation services to meet the needs of its resident population. Services are provided in a range of settings depending on local circumstances and needs. They include hospital or general practitioner-based clinics, where smokers receive group therapy, and one-to-one services in primary care and in the community.
	The results of the services show that they have been very successful, with nearly 55,000 smokers successfully quitting between April and September 2002. We expect a substantial increase in the provision of smoking cessation services over the next 12 months as a result of our target for the National Health Service to achieve 800,000 smokers successfully quitting at the four-week stage between 2003–04 and 2005–06. Substantial extra resources, totalling £138 million over the next three years, have been made available to the NHS for this purpose.
	Further details on the performance of the NHS smoking cessation service are contained in the Department of Health Statistical Bulletin 2002/25: Statistics on smoking cessation services in England, April 2001 to March 2002, available at http://ww.doh.gov.uk/public/sb0225.pdf and SH statistical press release 2003/0073.
	Statistics on smoking cessation services in England, April to September 2002, are available at http://www.info.doh.qov.uk/dohIntPress.nsf/paqe/2003–0073/OpenDocument

Smoking

John Randall: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what targets are in place for reduction of tobacco smoking.

Hazel Blears: The White Paper, Smoking Kills, published in 1998, set out the following targets for the reduction in prevalence of tobacco smoking:
	To reduce smoking among children from 13 per cent. the 1996 figure, to 11 per cent. by 2005 and 9 per cent. by 2010.
	To reduce adult smoking in all social classes so that the overall rates falls from 28 per cent. the 1996 figure, to 26 per cent. by 2005 and 24 per cent, by 2010.
	To reduce the percentage of women who smoke during pregnancy from 23 per cent. the 1995 figure, to 18 per cent. by 2005 and 15 per cent. by 2010.
	The NHS Cancer Plan, published in September 2000, set the additional target that smoking rates among manual groups be reduced from 32 per cent. in 1998 to 26 per cent, by 2010.
	The Priorities and Planning Framework (PPF), published on 2 October 2002—see http://www.doh.gov.uk/planning2003–2006/index.htm—set out the priorities for the next three years for the National Health Service and social services and described what local organisations and communities need to do to plan for and implement the improvements. Three specific smoking targets were identified:
	In the Cancer section:
	"Reduce the rate of smoking, contributing to the national target of: reducing the rate in manual groups from 32 per cent. in 1998 to 26 per cent. by 2010; 800,000 smokers from all groups successfully quitting at the four week stage by 2006". The 800,000 target is for delivery through the NHS stop smoking (cessation) service.
	In the Reducing Health Inequalities section:
	"Deliver a one percentage point reduction per year in the proportion of women continuing to smoke throughout pregnancy, focussing especially on smokers from disadvantaged groups as a contribution to the national target to reduce by at least 10 per cent. the gap in mortality between 'routine and manual' groups and the population as a whole by 2010, starting with children under one year."
	In the Coronary Heart Disease (CHD) section:
	"In primary care, update practice-based-registers so that patients with CHD and diabetes continue to receive appropriate advice and treatment in line with national service framework (NSF) standards and by March 2006, ensure practice based registers and systematic treatment regimes, including appropriate advice on diet, physical activity and smoking, also cover the majority of patients at: high risk of CHD, particular those with hypertension, diabetes and a body mass index (BMI) greater than 30".
	Guidance to assist local planners in achieving the PPF targets was issued on 14 November and can be found at www.doh.qov.uk/ldp2003–2006.

Statutory Instruments

John Bercow: To ask the Secretary of State for Health if he will list the statutory instruments issued by his Department in the last 12 months, indicating (a) the purpose of each and (b) the cost of each to (i) public funds, (ii) businesses and (iii) individuals.

David Lammy: The number of statutory instruments issued by the Department of Health between 1 April 2002 and 31 March 2003 was 182. These include Orders in Council.
	The purpose of each statutory instrument is outlined in its explanatory note.Where a statutory instrument imposes costs to public funds, local businesses and individuals, a regulatory impact assessment is prepared and placed in the Library.

Teenagers

David Amess: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what plans the Government has to designate teenagers as a specific group for the collection of health statistics.

Hazel Blears: The Government have no plans to designate teenagers in this way. Where practicable, relevant and justified, statistical collections include information on the date of birth or age of patients or other statistical subjects. These permit analysis by different age groups of interest. In other areas, the data collected may include analysis by age groups that are relevant for policy, legal or other reasons to the subject matter of the statistics, and these may cover partly or wholly the 13 to 19 age group.

Teenagers

David Amess: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many teenagers with cancer in Southend West are treated in wards for older people.

David Lammy: No statistics are available centrally which allow distinction between adult and children's wards.

Teenagers

David Amess: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what steps Southend Primary Care Trust is taking to tackle (a) late diagnosis and (b) mis-diagnosis of teenagers with cancer.

David Lammy: Southend Primary Care Trust board regularly reviews two week cancer waiting times as part of their review of performance indicators. Audit systems are in place for the treatment of cancer patients at the acute trust.

Tobacco Advertising

Tim Loughton: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what discussions he has had with (a) the Office of the Deputy Prime Minister and (b) tobacco companies concerning the removal of billboard tobacco advertising.

Hazel Blears: No specific discussions have taken place with the Office of the Deputy Prime Minister or the tobacco companies concerning the removal of billboard advertising. The Department of Health published its consultation document on the regulations to the Tobacco Advertising and Promotion Act 2002 with provisions concerning the removal of billboard advertising and a risk impact assessment. The consultation exercise ran from 22 August 2002 to 15 November 2002, which included the tobacco companies. A copy of the consultation document is available in the Library.

Waiting Lists/Times

John Bercow: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many patients in the Buckinghamshire Health Authority area waited more than (a) three months, (b) six months, (c) nine months, (d) 12 months, (e) 15 months, (f) 18 months and (g) 24 months for (i) heart operations, (ii) cancer treatment and (iii) hip replacements in 2001–02.

Hazel Blears: The information for the number of patients who waited for heart operations, cancer treatment and hip replacements in 2001–02 is shown in the table. It shows the cumulative figures on hip replacement operations or heart operations and procedures and primary diagnosis of cancer (neoplasms), count of finished in year admission episodes, admissions from waiting list and booked cases by waiting time group in National Health Service hospitals, Buckinghamshire Health Authority 2001–02.
	
		
			 Waiting time group Heart Operations Hip replacements Cancer treatment (neoplasms) 
		
		
			 More than three months (43) 369 343 
			 More than six months 0 290 258 
			 More than nine months 0 201 175 
			 More than 12 months 0 140 120 
			 More than 15 months 0 66 57 
			 More than 18 months 0 27 21 
			 More than 24 months 0 9 8 
		
	
	(43) Due to reasons of confidentiality, figures below five have been suppressed.
	Note:
	HES data include suspended patient waits.
	Source:
	Hospital Episode Statistics (HES), Department of Health.

Waiting Lists/Times

Nicholas Soames: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what percentage of patients waited over four hours in accident and emergency departments in each West Sussex hospital in each of the last four years.

Hazel Blears: holding answer 7 April 2003
	Information on the total time spent in accident and emergency (A&E) is not collected for individual A&E departments. Information on the total time spent in A&E for each national health service trust has been collected and published since July 2002 on the Department of Health website at http://www.doh.gov.uk/hospitalactivity.

WORK AND PENSIONS

Benefit Fraud

John Bercow: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions what mechanisms have been put in place by his Department to identify second and further convictions for benefit fraud.

Malcolm Wicks: Following the implementation of the 'two-strikes' provision of the Social Security Fraud Act 2001, we have set up a special database to identify and track people prosecuted for benefit fraud more than once after 1 April 2002.

Benefits (Verification Compliance)

Norman Lamb: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions 
	(1)  if he will make a statement on verification framework compliance by housing benefit departments of local authorities;
	(2)  if he will make a statement on the success of the local authority verification framework compliance procedure in tackling housing benefit fraud;
	(3)  how many housing benefit departments of local authorities are now verification framework compliant; and how many have not achieved verification framework compliance;
	(4)  if he will make a statement on the additional resources made available by the Government to assist in making local authority housing benefit departments verification framework compliant;
	(5)  whether his Department plans to commit ring-fenced funding to local authority housing benefit departments for (a) IT and administrative support and (b) document imaging systems as a result of the demands created by the requirement for verification framework compliance;
	(6)  whether his Department plans to extend the requirement for verification framework compliance to other providers of benefits.

David Willetts: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions how many local authorities have not implemented the Verification Framework for housing benefit.

Malcolm Wicks: A total of 327 local authorities have taken up the Verification Framework (VF) so far. They include those who are fully compliant, those who have taken up one or two modules and those who are in the process of implementation. To date, 81 local authorities have not applied to take up VF.
	At present 74 per cent. of housing benefit expenditure is processed through VF. We aim to have 100 per cent. of housing benefit expenditure processed through VF by 2006.
	We are developing a more targeted method of identifying high-risk cases for VF interventions. This will replace the routine checking that is currently carried out on all claims as a matter of course when a claim reaches the end of its benefit period. We want local authorities' efforts to focus on more cost-effective activities and therefore we expect the VF to become more attractive.
	Management information returns indicate that local authorities who operate VF procedures identify 6 per cent. of new claims as being fraudulent or in error and
	identify in 5 per cent. of renewal claims and at 5 per cent of VF visits an actual or potential overpayment. It is not possible to measure directly how much of this incorrectness would have been found had the local authorities hot been VF compliant.
	The Departmental funding for VF is in the form of a one-off payment for set-up costs and on-going funding for the running of the scheme. The set-up cost is intended for costs incurred in the implementation phase and would cover such areas as training, IT changes, staff recruitment, etc. Each local authority's capacity to implement the scheme would dictate how they would need to spend the set-up costs and it is left to their judgment. Purchase of document imaging systems would be one of their options. The funding is not ring-fenced but conditional upon the local authority delivering the specified outcomes.
	A total of £223 million is available for the VF scheme for three years from April 2003. This represents a 50 per cent. increase on the 2002–03 allocation for set-up costs and on-going funding. This is the biggest increase since the VF was introduced and will help to increase take-up even further.
	The VF was designed specifically for use by local authorities. However, there are already procedures in place to check evidence for other DWP benefit claims.

Local Authority Software

Archy Kirkwood: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions which local authorities do not have electronic interfaces with (a) the Pension Service and (b) Jobcentre Plus.

Maria Eagle: Electronic access between local authorities and the Pension Service and Jobcentre Plus is available through remote access terminals. Remote access terminals provide a simple, inexpensive system that greatly speeds up the transfer of information between the Department and local authorities.
	All authorities have access to remote access terminals, with the exception of the Council of the Isles of Scilly, where the housing benefit case load is so small (around 50 cases at August 2002) that it would not be financially viable to invest in the enhanced technology.

Winter Fuel Payment

David Willetts: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions pursuant to his answer of 24 Febuary 2003 to the hon. Member for Birmingham, Selly Oak (Lynne Jones), Official Report, column 204W, how much he estimates the winter fuel payment will cost in total in 2001–02 prices in (a) 2011–12, (b) 2021–22 and (c) 2051–52, based on the modelling assumption used in the pensions Green Paper that the benefit remains at £200.

Maria Eagle: The information requested is provided in the table.
	
		Projected expenditure on winter fuel payments -- £ million, 2001–02 prices
		
			 Year Projected expenditure on WFPs 
		
		
			 2011–12 1,516 
			 2021–22 1,351 
			 2051–52 759 
		
	
	Note:
	1. Figures rounded to the nearest £1 million.
	Source:
	Long term projections used in the Long term Public Finance Report: an a analysis of fiscal sustainability, HM Treasury, November 2002 and the DWP Green Paper "Simplicity, security and choice" (Annex 3).

LORD CHANCELLOR

Antisocial Behaviour Orders

Howard Stoate: To ask the Parliamentary Secretary, Lord Chancellor's Department what measures she is taking to speed up the anti-social behaviour order (ASBO) application process; what proportion of ASBO cases in (a) 2001 and (b) 2002 required (i) one court hearing, (ii) two court hearings and (iii) three or more court hearings to reach a decision; and what steps she is taking to reduce the number of court hearings required in ASBO cases.

Yvette Cooper: Changes to ASBOs, which help speed up the application process, were made under the Police Reform Act 2002. These were accompanied by guidance to all practitioners and the courts. This advises specifically that adjournments should be avoided unless absolutely necessary; and that in order to minimise delays, courts should be forewarned of applications. Courts are being encouraged to consider rigorously requests for adjournments (whilst always acting in the interests of justice), and to use pre-trial reviews in appropriate cases. Figures were only collected for the first time in 2001 and the figures for 2001 are incomplete. In 2001, for 32 per cent. of ASBO cases it was not known how many hearings they took. 10.5 per cent of ASBO cases were recorded as requiring one court hearing; 15.0 per cent. two court hearings; and 42.5 per cent three or more court hearings in order to determine the application. Up to 30 September 2002, the corresponding figures are 2.25 per cent. not known, 16.25 per cent. for one hearing, 22.50 per cent. for two hearings; and 59.0 per cent. for three or more court hearings.
	As set out in the recent White Paper on anti-social behaviour—"Respect and Responsibility" we are taking steps in the Anti-Social Behaviour Bill to improve further the operation of Anti-Social Behaviour Orders which remain a valuable tool in tackling anti-social behaviour. For instance. Housing Actions Trusts will be able to apply for ASBOs to protect persons who reside in or are in the vicinity of their premises, instead of having to rely on other authorities to seek ASBOs on their behalf. It will also be possible for relevant persons to be joined to proceedings in the County Court with a view to obtaining an ASBO against them where their anti-social behaviour is material to these proceedings. This would enable courts to make more effective use of time by removing the need for a separate hearing for an ASBO.

Legal Aid

Jim Cunningham: To ask the Parliamentary Secretary, Lord Chancellor's Department what assessment her Department has made of legal aid provision in other EU states; and what lessons have been drawn from these assessments.

Rosie Winterton: holding answer 8 April 2003
	While no formal assessment has been made of legal aid provision in the different legal systems of other European Union states, we work closely with our EU partners to ensure co-operation and information with regard to legal aid policy.

Legal Services

Jim Cunningham: To ask the Parliamentary Secretary, Lord Chancellor's Department what steps the Department is taking to ensure the future effective delivery of legal services to all sectors of society.

Rosie Winterton: holding answer 8 April 2003
	My Department continues to support the Legal Services Commission in developing the Community Legal Service (CLS). The CLS ensures that publicly funded legal services are targeted more effectively at areas of priority need. Initiatives such as the Methods of Delivery Pilots and the Partnership Initiative Budget are also leading to the development of new and innovative approaches to service delivery.
	The Government are also committed to the removal of restrictive practices, and is currently considering responses to the consultation exercise on those issues that stemmed from the Office of Fair Trading's report on competition in. professions. The removal of restrictive practices, which cannot be justified in the public interest, could provide an incentive for lawyers to provide innovative, high quality and affordable services to the public.

Legal Services

Humfrey Malins: To ask the Parliamentary Secretary, Lord Chancellor's Department, what percentage salary increase was awarded to the staff of the Legal Services Commission, broken down by grade, in (a) 2000–01 and (b) 2001–02.

Rosie Winterton: holding answer 25 February 2003
	Salary increases awarded to the staff of the Legal Services Commission are determined by a pay remit which is approved by my Department and HM Treasury.
	In 2000/01 and 2001/02 salary increases to the Commission's staff were based on performance and their existing position in the Commission's pay bands and not grade.
	The Commission's pay bands are constructed around a market rate (median) that has been established following a comprehensive job evaluation exercise carried out by the Commission in conjunction with HayGroup. The Commission sub-divides the pay bands into three: training (the bottom third of the scale); fully effective (the middle third of the scale) and a bar beyond which only those who achieve sustained superior performance can progress (the upper third of the scale).
	The following table sets out the percentage of staff within each performance rating and the average salary increase. To provide more detailed information can be done only at a disproportionate cost.
	
		
			   Percentage 
			  Performancerating Staff within performance rating Average salary increase 
		
		
			 2000–01 Outstanding 7.4 7.5 
			  Very good 32.9 5.3 
			  Effective 53.9 3.7 
			  Not fully effective 2.3 2.5 
			  Unsatisfactory 3.5 0.7 
			   
			 2001–02 Outstanding 8.3 6.9 
			  Very good 35.8 5.0 
			  Effective 49.6 3.5 
			  Not fully effective 3.0 2.2 
			  Unsatisfactory 3.3 0.1

EU Directives

John Bercow: To ask the Parliamentary Secretary, Lord Chancellor's Department if she will list the EU Directives and Regulations which have been implemented by the Lord Chancellor's Department since 17 April 2002.

Rosie Winterton: The Lord Chancellor's Department plays a leading role in the UK's EU policy on civil judicial co-operation, human rights and data protection. Nonetheless I am not aware of any Directives on which the Foreign and Commonwealth Office has led on implementation since 17 April 2002.
	EC Regulations are, in general, directly applicable in the member states, without the need for further incorporation into national law. However, some Regulations require UK measures to make them workable and enforceable. Some Regulations enact small or technical amendments. I am not aware of any Regulations on which the Lord Chancellor's Department has led on implementation since 17 April 2002.